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And There He Kept Her

Title: And There He Kept Her

Author: Joshua Moehling

Genre: thriller

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book

I love discovering new authors, and I am happy to say Moehling is one I’ll read more from. I’ve already downloaded the next book in this series. This story follows Ben Packard, who returns to the town he and his family used to visit during the summer. Also, the town where his brother went missing twenty years ago. Packard is now the sheriff and is entangled in the disappearance of two teenagers.

The story is cat and mouse, and you know early on what happened to the teens, but following Packard is worth reading. He’s a great guy, and you root for him to find the truth and become the man he is in private. While this one didn’t keep me guessing because we know the fate of the teens from the start, but following the clues with Ben is a lot of fun.

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Holly

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The Magnolia Palace

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Light Bringer

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The Cases That Haunt Us

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All American Boys

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The Muse

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Dark Age

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Sisters of the Lost Nation

Title: Sisters of the Lost Nation

Author: Nick Medina

Genre: thriller, mystery

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

Indigenous people of this country are severely underrepresented in publishing, so it’s great when a writer finds his voice in the industry.

From Goodreads: Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation’s casino…and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step—an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that’s intent on devouring her whole.

With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she’s sure lies in the legends of her tribe’s past.

When Anna’s own little sister also disappears, she’ll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation—both ancient and new—are strong, and sometimes, it’s the stories that never get told that are the most important.

Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be.

This book was clearly the writer’s first, and he needs a great editor. Too many things are happening in the plot. Anna is a good character, but she is also struggling with her identity… is she gay? is she transgender? That subplot was wholly unnecessary. As told in the third person, Anna’s parents are referred to by their first names, but the author switches to Mom and Dad on occasion. I loved the mythology behind the story.

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Full Dark, No Stars