They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong.

When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he’s been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he’ll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser, and protector.

Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff’s deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home.

Review:

Gritty, menacing, and dark!

And There He Kept Her is a creepy, engrossing thriller that takes you to Sandy Lake, MN, where acting county sheriff Ben Packard suddenly finds himself unexpectedly uncovering a history of violence and murder nobody in this small town ever could have imagined when his investigation into two missing teens also leads to the discovery of a well-organized drug ring and two sadists with a penchant for confinement, torture, and rape.

The writing is crisp and tight. The characters are multilayered, persistent, and vulnerable. And the plot is a suspenseful, gripping tale full of twists, turns, secrets, deception, community, abuse, familial drama, depravity, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, And There He Kept Her is a shocking, ominous, spine-chilling tale by Moehling that kept me on the edge of my seat from the very first page and is undoubtedly an exceptionally promising debut.

This book is available now.

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