And There He Kept Her, by Joshua Moehling

Talk about finishing spooky season with a BANG. And There He Kept Her, by Joshua Moehling was more like an incredibly disturbing train wreck. I couldn’t look away. I found this one randomly scrolling down the rabbit hole of Goodreads and the premise sounded intriguing, so I figured, “why not?!“

In the small town of Sandy Lake, Minnesota, two teens break into the home of the elderly Emmett Burr in search of prescription drugs. What was supposed to be a quick in-and-out smash-and-grab turned into a fatal night for the teens. Emmett goes to great lengths to keep his darkest secrets from being exposed when he catches the teens in action and the small town of Sandy Lake is thrust into panic mode. Enter Ben Packard, lead investigator in search of the now missing teens. Ben has a few secrets of his own and is on a mission to save the teens before it’s too late.

Okay, so what did I just read?! Because that was one unbelievably MESSED UP story. And I must be harboring a dark soul because I enjoyed the ride, lol. But reader be warned…this one is dark.

I went into this book with zero expectations. The premise was intriguing and I really liked the cover. It was fitting for the mood I was in. I’m glad I didn’t know anything about this one because I might have been disappointed in how it all played out. There are no crazy twists or turns…everything is pretty much laid out for you at the onset of the story. It’s definitely more character driven than plot. A slow burn kind of police procedural that I could easily see becoming a series with Ben as the lead detective in each book.

Emmett and his accomplice are the most foul characters. Evil might be describing them too kindly. Their crimes are sick and disturbing. I really liked Ben a lot and would definitely read more by this author if he were written as the lead investigator in those, too. I appreciated the character development throughout the story and thought the pacing was fitting as well.

Overall, And There He Kept Her was a really messed up read. It was a well told story, but there wasn’t anything remarkably compelling that made it stand out. A slow burn, pretty average book with some really demented sociopaths at the forefront. If you like dark police procedurals with a sociopath element , I think you’d enjoy this one.

3.5 out of 5 stars.