And There He Kept Her

this was a perfectly serviceable mystery/thriller with a more interesting main character than most out there. i liked it but also was a little let down by it overall. i get that this is going to be a series, and with this being the first in that series, there's an overarching main character plot begun here, but it felt open-ended in the end of the book, like i was waiting for some other ends to wrap up but they were left open, assumedly left for a later book. kind of a mixed bag for me, but i did like that the mc was very different than pretty much every other book i've read in this genre, and that does make me interested to read more in this series to see where his story goes.

tws: sexual assault, kidnapping, murder, drug abuse, gun violence, pedophilia, abuse, homophobia

Rating: 3.25 leaves out of 5Characters: 3/5 Cover: 3/5Story: 2.5/5Writing: 4/5Genre: Fantasy/Historical FictionType: AudiobookWorth?: YeahHated Disliked Liked Loved FavoritedWant to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to listen to this book. This book reminded me A LOT like Don't Breath, but less scary. You got a couple teens go into a house and don't come out. Hell, even to the point where the man who has them has a disability AND they had kidnapped someone before. That wasn't a problem though, it was the unnecessary bits that were in there. One, Ben's sexuality. Don't get me wrong, I do love me a LGBT book but this? I feel like Josh drizzled JUST enough so the book can be included in the tag but there was really no need. It added NOTHING to the story. If anything it was an insult. Secondly, his brother... what was the point of bringing in his deceased brother? We got nothing, but it did seem like it could have another book... yet the book is a stand alone novel.Besides that the story was pretty good, if you two those things out. I wanted to know more and got a smidge of Stockholm Syndrome from it.

Crime fiction is one of my favorite genres. I also love police procedurals. And There He Kept Her is a debut that follows Detective Ben Packard as he puts the clues together to solve the mystery of the missing teens. Overall, a pretty good debut.

One thing I loved is the small town setting. This is one of my favorites to read in mysteries. I also enjoyed the different POVs and the thought process laid out by the author as Detective Packard wades through the murky waters of the townsfolk and their history.

As with some police procedurals, the whodunnit is know from the beginning. I don't mind this at all, but if this is the route the author decides to go, I would hope to be locked in and interested during the entire book. This one was pretty slow and dragged on in some places. It definitely wasn't one I was in a rush to get back to.

However, with that being said, it's a solid debut and looks to be a series. I would definitely read more from this author and recommend this one for fans of this genre. I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.