I read this thing a couple of months ago when it was first submitted as the Long Story but did not win. Like Virginia I had difficulty putting it down and read it in two stretches due to RL.
At the end of reading it, I did not like it. The only thing I could think of was Tank having Lois face a Firing Squad again. I mean I have only read around 10 of Tank's stories and two of them have her facing a Firing Squad (Lois Get Fired - Tank and Wendy) and that just did not sit well with me. I also could not get around (past) Metropolis allowing a public Tar and Feathering of a prominent citizen, followed by allowing a 102 lb female to get in a public boxing exhibition with a professional boxer (illegal in almost all states), and finally a public Firing Squad killing an innocent person! This pushes creative license well past reason. I mean what next a public beheading via a long knife or guillotine? As Virginia said, I was most impressed with the reaction of the audience as it did not give Griffin as much of the jollies he was hoping for so that was a counter to my aversion to the repetitive Firing Squad plot line. The final inconsistency was that Griffin was a Prankster not a killer in general meaning the first two challenges fit but the final (firing squad) did not fit his pattern plus if he actually killed Lois what would he do for fun then? Kyle Griffin would have wanted to keep this up just about as long as possible and with his ego he would have thought he could keep it up as long as he wanted.
On the good side I love a strong Lois and boy this one had that in spades. Constantly working on how to get Superman out of his predicament, taking the beating and continuing to come back always thinking one step ahead of Griffin. The way she finally put the Superman/Clark puzzle together, knowing that unless he was captive himself he would be there for her and helping her work through the 'challenges'. I also figured she had some backup to the bulky bulletproof vest she obviously wore to have Lenny find but really had no idea what. Lenny being Lenny never got the idea that she expected the first vest to be found otherwise she would not have had a bulls-eye painted on the shirt underneath the first vest... One of the things I loved about the story was how everyone rallied around Lois during the 'challenges' and how she brought Henderson into the loop to help find Clark/Superman. Lois the loner was not found here much at all. It helped me in the liking the story because I normally prefer stories where Lois and Clark are working through the crisis together and I guess even here they were just not physically together.
I guess in the end the positives DID outweigh the issues I had with the story. The writing was great and as Virginia said action was non-stop. I actually did read it again before putting this up and found it just as exciting as the first time which I guess is the best testament to a story and the way it was put together.
Mike
