I suppose it was inevitable. After heaping praise on Escape Pod last week for tapping into my psyche and running a string of stories that really "hit" with me, I had to jinx it.
Interestingly enough, I also didn't like the story over on Podcastle, and both that one and this one used a lot of second person. That was a big part of what killed this one for me. Addressing the reader as "you" is something you have to be careful with, especially when "you" is described as doing something very unlike the majority of the readers. Personally, it tossed me out of the story when "you" lit a cigarette, which is something this particular "you" would never, ever do. Oh, yeah, and torture, too. And then after that I couldn't get back into it, and I was just glad when it was over, although I do remember saying, "Is that IT? It's ending THERE?" as I was turning left at a traffic light.
Oh, the narration was great. The story was just "meh" for me.