A Different Kind of Hero... and a Different Kind of Villain (AND THERE HE KEPT HER thriller REVIEW)

They say that “kids will be kids”, but, really… what does that even mean, any more? 

It was one thing, when people rolled their eyes and (mostly) looked the other way at kids cutting classes, going out drag-racing, sneaking cigarettes (or now, more likely some prescription pills) from their parents’ stashes, or having a little party and raiding the liquor cabinet when the folks were out late. Everybody has to grow up… and doing that means doings some certifiably dumb, or dangerous, or whatever-other-terms-the-adults-in-question-deem-appropriate stuff.

No matter what the “stuff” is, one thing is certain: no kid, in the history of ever, wants to get in trouble for doing it. 

But here’s the thing [at least, I think; my only kid has fur, so I’m no expert, here]: some of the stuff parents get mad about is of the “do as I say, not as I do” or “because you’re not old enough” variety… while some of it falls under the “because that’s crazy-dangerous” header. 

Joshua Moehling looks at one way the latter can go, in his brilliant new debut thriller, And There He Kept Her.

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When some local kids in a teeny-tiny Minnesota town decide to start looting out-of-the-way (meaning, in the boonies) houses for prescription drugs, it’s a safe bet that things won’t end well… but how not well turns out to worse than anyone could’ve imagined.

Emmett Burr—the very picture of Grumpy Old Man… completely-unlikable, morbidly-obese, and riddled with a veritable cornucopia of debilitating health issues—wouldn’t seem like much of a threat to most people. (If nothing else, you’d take one look at him, and just know you could outrun him… even, most likely, if you had a broken ankle.) But there’s more to Emmett than first (or second, or even third) appearances would suggest… and for the teens foolish enough to decide that robbing him in the wee hours of the night, while he’s at home (presumably asleep), was a good idea? Well, Emmett would beg to differ.

Emmett, you see, has secrets… and not just the I-watch-porn-in-my-underwear-in-broad-daylight kinda secrets (which, yeah, pervy and gross, but not really soooo bizarre). No, Emmett—in his way-out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere ramshackle house—has a whole big terrifying thing that no one else has any idea about.

Well, except for Carl, that is—Emmett’s repulsive neighbor who shares that thing, and has some plans of his own, once Emmett enlists his aid to help deal with those uninvited guests. 

But let’s get back to those foolhardy kids-will-be-kids teens… who, as far as everyone else is concerned, mysteriously disappear into thin air. 

When a woman walks into the tiny Sandy Lake police station to report her daughter Jenny’s disappearance, it doesn’t take long before acting sheriff Ben Packard—the newish-to-town deputy currently promoted to “acting” status while the real sheriff battles cancer—goes on high alert… partly because he previously spent several years on the job in Minneapolis, and knows of “bad things”, and partly because he happens to be cousins with Jenny’s mom. [Even when family isn’t close, it’s still something, you know?]

With little to go on—no real clues, only a few, cryptic cell phone texts between Jenny and her also-missing boyfriend, Jesse, and limited GPS tracking data—Ben and his little team start making the rounds of the “usual suspects”: school friends, relatives, known ne’er-do-wells, and so on.

And of course, while the search goes on, so does normal Sandy Lake life… including a decades-long feud between a fabulously-flamboyant, gay trucker/dog rescuer, who moved back into the area many years ago, and his widowed, bible-thumping neighbor, who’s sure that the man living on the next property over is the Devil Incarnate… a situation which Ben finds particularly awkward, having personal issues of his own, in this arena.

With every minute that goes by meaning another minute closer to bad news for Jenny and Jesse, though, Ben realizes that it may be necessary for him to face his own demons—the painful personal history which found him fleeing life in the Twin Cities for a deputy job in Podunk—in order to understand how the villain thinks… and to figure out who the villain is.

But when it comes to a bad guy like Emmett Burr, not even an experienced cop such as Ben can be prepared for the reality of the situation.

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I can’t remember the last time I read a book in one day. I honestly can’t. And yet, that’s precisely what happened with And There He Kept Her. I devoured this impossible-to-put-down tale, which kept getting better, the longer I read.

Moehling clearly has a firm grip on creating compelling characters, and in this, his first published book, he creates several… and one way he does that, is by giving us both a different kind of hero and a different kind of villain.

Ben Packard is a complex, likable, and believable man, and his pain and shame are palpable. Emmett Burr, on the other hand, is… well, not so likable (at all), but is, likewise, exceptionally well-drawn. We get to see how each of these very (very) different men have gotten to the places they are when we meet them… which also forces us to ask ourselves, if maybe we shouldn’t try a little harder to look beyond the surface, beyond only the right now of everyone, because there is always a whole world of stuff that’s happened, which we know little or nothing about, making each of us who we are as we show up, today. [Seriously, the fact that we might walk away feel a measure of compassion for Emmett is a darned impressive feat, on the author’s part.]

I would absolutely love to see more books about Ben Packard—a fascinating hero unlike any I’ve read before… and that, right there, may be the best recommendation I can give this wonderfully-compelling thriller, which gets my top marks for a Seriously Great Read. 

Pick up a copy of And There He Kept Her when it releases on June 14. I don’t think you’ll be one bit sorry. 

~GlamKitty