Doesn’t seem like Tom Lowe

I’m a great fan of Tom Lowe’s Sean O’Brien series, which features a very likable main character. Even though I had my doubts when Sean would seem to have developed a girlfriend in one book who generally might disappear in the next one, I forgave it and continued on because I really enjoyed the stories.

Lowe’s new protagonist is a teacher of Criminal Psychology at Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, who occasionally testifies about murderers’ personalities in court. As the story went on, I found myself not liking her and I’m still trying to figure out why. I think I found that her relationship with local law enforcement was unbelievable - that they would accept her credentials to the extent that they did with no resistance. They basically keep her in the loop about everything that happened in the case. And this included her being able to convince them to let her go along with them at times. I believe that it was supposed to create a better story, but didn’t pass muster in my mind. Interesting mystery, I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy it. Vey good narration.

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Evil Waiting to Devour

This new series by Tom Lowe is about the mother of murdered college student, Molly Monroe (from the Sean O’Brien series) in The Butterfly Forest, who has since become a forensic psychologist and professor at the University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg. Elizabeth Monroe, age 44 has also assisted the police in profiling suspects, and when one of her brightest students is found murdered and posed with the word, WRATH written on her forehead, Elizabeth again helps to profile and identify who the killer may be. At the back of her mind, always present, is, could the murderer also have killed Molly? The search for the killer takes the police and Elizabeth back to a dark time in the history of Mississippi, of racial tension, lynching, snake handling, and religious zealots whose interpretation of the Bible was anything but accurate. And hiding in the backwoods of Mississippi were some of the decedents of these same hateful, bigoted people. Could the authorities trust the rural country folk to point them in the right direction before more people were killed? I wasn’t sure if I would get as vested in this new series as I did the Sean O’Brien series, but about halfway through, BAM! I was there. Can’t wait for the next one!

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Tie in to BUTTERFLY FOREST...

Tom Lowe is known for his historical thrillers. His previous series which I hope he plans to continue is the Sean O'Brien series. If you have not listened to those books I would recommend them. Great mystery/thrillers all based on historical events.
This series has a female protagonist, Elizabeth Monroe. She is a 44 year old woman, teacher at a University with a gift for seeing things that are "just not right ". She's also he mother of the young woman murdered in Lowe's "Butterfly Forest".
Anyway, in this book one of Elizabeth 's students is murdered and posed at the base of a tree. The word WRATH is written on her forehead. In her lap is a bowl with an object in it. Then a second person is murdered, a second bowl is left with a different object in that one. The murderer is leaving messages and Elizabeth thinks she knows what it is. She thinks this person may have murdered her daughter.
There's a whole other plot as well. This one deals with religious fanatics and racism.
Very good procedural, sometimes a little slow but it's worth purchasing.

I just wanted to add how much I really dislike the new listener page. I wrote Audible on their contact page and complained. Maybe if enough people do this they might change it back. I did get a response saying my letter would be forwarded to the appropriate person and customer feedback is important.
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15 people found this helpful

New series by Tom Lowe!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Florida based 8 novel Sean O'Brien series by Tom Lowe. The recently released WRATH begins his new Mississippi based forensic psychologist and university professor Elizabeth Monroe suspense mystery series which promised to be as good. The publisher's summary sets up the novel reasonably well. I had a difficult time choosing between a 4 star and 5 star rating. This is my first exposure to narrator Eliza Foss. She does a nice job.

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excellent

thriller from beginning to end. humble. love the characters, plot, story, very well written. good

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Wrath

What a great book! The story line kept me on my seat. Every time I had to turn it off, I was looking for ways to listen again!! I thoroughly enjoyed every book by Tom Lowe. Also, Eliza Foss did a really good job with narration!!

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Good Book if you have Kindle Unlimited...

While I enjoyed Wrath I found the plot and dialogue in the story to be average and flat at times. Overall the plot held my interest. The narration is only average and did not improve the audible. I will not be seeking out Foss’ other work as I do for many narrators. To be fair I have high standards when it come to the quality of the narration. I have kindle unlimited and was able to get this audible for 1.99 and it is a good book for the price. Had I used a credit I would have been disappointed and returned the book. I can say the narration in this series Is better than Tom Lowe’s other series. I had to return Butterfly Forest, the first book featuring Elizabeth, due solely to the quality of the narration.

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GOOD BEGINNING TO A NEW SERIES!

First let me say that the story is good. I feel that there was a lot of filler material which wasn't necessary IMO. But with that being said, if this is going to be a series and Eliza Foss is going to be the narrator for future releases...she needs to learn how to pronounce "Biloxi". It's pronounced "Ba-lux-e". It's not pronounced like it's spelled. How do I know??? I'm from Gulfport/Biloxi. She is pretty good in most of her narration qualities/abilities but if she's going to be the voice of MISSISSIPPI, she needs to do her research on names.

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Tom Lowe??

I have listened to almost all available books by Tom Lowe and I find this series to be inferior to his other work. Since I have worked in law enforcement many years I know this to be highly irregular. Even if the coroner or other detectives from other divisions try to be over-involved we find it suspicious. I cringe when he has her talking to the press. There are things held back that only the killer would know and she was blabbing away. I listened to the first two and will not listen to another because it goes way beyond fiction.

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