Pest Control Paperback – Bargain Price, March 29, 2005

This was Bill Fitzhugh's first book I believe. If you like offbeat, some twisted humor or just love Entomology (bugs) you should enjoy this one. Read his others if you do. They evolve in my opinion. It's been a long time since his last book so if you fall in love with his characters and storylines there seems to be a limit to what will be available. He seems like an interesting person too - look him up if you get hooked. I have only read one Carl Hiaasen's book, Razor Girl, so not an authority but Mr. Fitzhugh trumps for me.

If you’re here for your latest life lesson, it’s this: Don’t ever answer an exterminator ad. You might find your life terminated, after the CIA takes a hit out on you. Sure, the money sounds good and all, but fifty grand ain’t what it used to be. And if I have a choice between life and death, I think I’ll go with life, Bob.PEST CONTROL finds us in the midst of a painful existence of one Bob Dillon (not to be confused with the Bob Dylan) who has some trouble with bugs after he shoves a garden hose up his boss’s nose. Yes, the man has anger management issues, and he’s probably breathed in his share of toxic fumes (which doesn’t really help his cause). What he lacks in employment, though, he more than makes up for in spirit. Or you could just call it gusto. He hops up on desks and shouts to the heavens and breeds beetles in his spare room and deals with one pissed off landlord on a semi-regular basis.If that isn’t bad enough, he also has a hit man named Klaus (not to be confused with Santa) breathing down his neck. There’s also a little person who has a penchant for pink panties, which wouldn’t be so bad except the she is a he; a hit woman (after all we’re equal opportunity employers here) with a fondness for shoving white truffles down the gullet of her latest victim; a cowboy with his own rodeo and a fondness for killing; and other nefarious individuals who shall not be named.If you’re looking for the straight and narrow, you won’t find it here. What you will find are enough strange individuals to fill an entire city block, an over-the-top plot that at times had trouble maintaining believability, dialogue that shuddered, a narrative that might have had a loophole or two in logic and a bit of a jump in time, and pages plastered with dead insects in every possible manner known to the pest community.If you can believe it, this was even musical material. While I’m not sure I understand that particular angle, I did find myself amused at what took place over the course of this tale. If you have a penchant for half-baked tales that could have been composed on the back of a napkin after you (and possibly the author) surrounded yourselves in a smoke-filled haze, then this story’s for you. Just make sure you wash your hands first and then possibly after.Robert DownsAuthor of Falling Immortality: Casey Holden, Private Investigator

After completing the first few pages, I realized I'd read PEST CONTROL some years ago; but I certainly never reviewed it. I usually don't read books more than once, but went ahead anyway since, as I recall, it was pretty good.Bob Dillon is an environmentally conscious pest, i.e. insect, controller. As the book opens Bob quits his job with an exterminating company after he rebels against tripling the dose of parathion on a cockroach job and jams the wand of his sprayer up his supervisor's nose. However, as good as quitting felt, he and his family - wife Mary and daughter Katy - will be more financially strapped now than ever before. Mary's job as a waitress just won't pay the overdue bills.Bob's only hope is to make a success of his dream venture - to start up his own pest control business utilizing not poisons but hybrid predator bugs that'll prey on roaches and termites. In the meantime, Dillon answers an ad for a "professional exterminator" placed in the Sunday edition of the New York Times ("resumes to Zurich"), unaware that it's a coded request for an assassin's services. The intended hit is the playboy head of a multimillion dollar European corporation, control of which is coveted by the CEO's loving family. When the middleman, Marcel, personally approaches Bob to ascertain terms, the latter obviously declines the contract, saying he only kills bugs. Thinking Dillon is only being coy to raise his kill-fee, Marcel returns home thinking a deal has been struck. When the inebriated target soon thereafter careens off an Alpine road and cartwheels down a slope, Marcel is amazed that Bob made the assassination look accidental - and so soon, too.Ultimately, misperception and circumstances conspire to give Dillon - without a clue - the global reputation as the Number 1 Assassin. Even the Central Intelligence Agency is impressed, especially as Bob's "cover" seems impeccable. Eventually, a Bolivian drug lord promises to pay $10 million to anyone who can take Bob out. The world's #2,3,4,5,6 and 7-ranked professional killers give it a shot, so to speak, and the plot escalates to its conclusion.In PEST CONTROL, author Bill Fitzhugh has created a clever premise supported by a sublimely absurd set of circumstances and coincidences. Dillon and his family, especially young Katy, are enormously engaging. And the arcane details of killer bug hybridization - accurate or not, I can't say - make for interesting contemplation. I was particularly amused by the mental contortions by which the CIA concluded that Bob was an assassin extraordinaire, a conclusion ironically realized when our hero manipulates both the inherent dangers of New York City and his own knowledge of the class Insecta to eliminate those hunting him.Being a licensed curmudgeon, PEST CONTROL didn't make me laugh out loud, but it did bring a grin to my poker face on several occasions. That, by itself, is a noteworthy accomplishment that needs to be recognized with five stars.

Really quirky, very funny. Fitzhugh hasn't made any effort for "realism" in the book, but the characters and situations are funny as can be. I really enjoyed reading this (on a recommendation from a bookstore owner). The main character tries to develop an environmentally safe extermination business using assassin bugs, and is mistaken for an assassin himself. Loved it.

This was a gift for a friend, but I'm reading the same book. The author is brilliant and every paragraph is loaded with more and more laughs. Something very special and enjoyable, but you have to have a creative and appreciative mind to enjoy. That's all I'll say, pick it up for yourself.

Really great read. Finally had to order a new copy because I wore the other one out. Funny, funny, funny.

Bought this based on the recommendation from a friend. Read it on my flight from LA to Florida, great fun fast read and you can’t beat the price for Kindle!

I've no idea how I missed this book when it was first published in 1996 but finally I've read once of the zaniest stories for quite some time - and thoroughly enjoyed it.It's not a laugh-out-loud book though I did have a few impromptu chuckles as a disillusioned exterminator becomes The Exterminator, the world's number one hitman. But I had a constant feel good factor and a smile on my face throughout. The author tells his tale with a great deal of skill as Bob Dillon travels on his mistaken identity journey, though there are plenty of coincidences without which the content wouldn't work. But ignore this because this is the concept of the story; just enjoy the characters and try not to wonder if the story will have a happy ending.I'm off to search out 'The Organ Grinders' because if it's half as good as this one, I'm in for another treat.

A down on his luck pest controller ditches his salary job to chase his dream of an all natural, non chemical, exterminator work. With things not working out as he had hoped, he answers a high paying extermination advert in the newspaper. Leading to curious developments...To use a cliché, this book is a great beach book (admittedly, not quite the time of year), a great pace to keep those thumbs flicking from page to page. And as other reviews have made a point of, really quite funny. Whilst reading I was left with the distinct impression that it was written with a screen adaptation in mind. Which is not a critisism, just a note of the style.This novel gave me some out-loud chuckles and a solid story, what more can you ask for in a quick read like this. Give it a try, I'm sure you'll be chuffed with it.

A comic novel of consistent misunderstandings which provided you can forgive that makes a very amusing book. Light and humorous somewhat in the vein of Carl Hiassan, couple of laugh-out-loud scenes and I think I will dip into the series again.

Bob is desperate to get out of New York and to give his family a new life. He puts out a flyer offering his services as an exterminator, which gets misinterpreted when he responds to a newspaper ad for an assassin. Hugely entertaining and fast moving story. A must buy.June Finnigan - writer

Funny well paced book.