Gwenda Bond's awesome "Lois Lane: Fallout" did a lot to convince me that all these years I'd been quite a bit wrong about Lois...
You see, as I said in our review of "Fallout" I was never really that much of a fan but thanks to Gwenda's sharp, savvy and bang-on contemporary version of Lois I've changed my mind and this particular depiction of her as a brainy, brave and smart-as-heck teen has really won me over.
So now Lois is back in "Double Down", the second in Gwenda's (eventual) Lois Trilogy (she's working very hard on Book 3 even as we type).
We join Lois after the events of book one as she's settling into a new school, making awesome new friends and still very much in touch with "Smallville Guy", her mysterious online muse who might prefer to stay in the shadows but seems to take a keen interest in our Lois.
The story puts its foot to the metal from the get-go, as fast-paced and crackingly original as "Fallout" but this time with Lois really finding her stride as a journalist who digs her teeth into a potential story and just doesn't let go.
This time Lois becomes embroiled in a seemingly straightforward case involving a young girl's collapse in an unsavoury part of town. The girl seemingly recalls nothing, and can't even understand how she got there. As Lois scratches the surface, the case erupts into a complex plot that may shake the very foundations of Metropolis itself.
Gwenda loves Lois, you can tell by the way she writes such a strong and engaging version of the character that eclipses pretty much every other version of Lois I've ever encountered (dang, don't you just wish this was the version of Lois we got in "Batman vs Superman" rather than the wishy-washy and terrible version that ended up in the movie?)
This is going to hit you right between the eyes if you love superb writing underpinned with action a go-go.
"Lois Lane: Double Down" by Gwenda Bond is available now from Curious Fox / Switch Press.