The Exterminators

Assassin Bug #2

by Bill Fitzhugh

This edition, the intended first publication, was canceled due to the death of Busted Flush Press founder David Thompson (as were all other pending book publications).
It was first published in early 2012 by Poisoned Pen Press.


"Bill Fitzhugh is a deeply disturbed individual who uses his talents to write very funny novels."—Carl Hiaasen

The bugs are back! And thanks to the miracle of genetic engineering, they're more deadly than ever. Six years after escaping New York and a posse of the world's best assassins, Bob and Klaus are on the verge of a breakthrough with their all natural pest control method. But gene splicing doesn't come cheap, so they've turned to Blue Sky Investment Partners, a venture capital outfit with terms that are, shall we say, hard to believe. Before you can say la cucaracha, they find themselves in Los Angeles with Mary and Katy in tow. Not only that, but there's another bounty on their heads and a new batch of killers on their trail. Throw in a CIA agent with a devious plan, a conflicted priest with a duffle bag of weapons, a professional killer working on a screenplay, and some serious post-9/11 thinking, and you've got The Exterminators.

The New York Times called Bill Fitzhugh "a strange and deadly amalgam of screenwriter and comic novelist. His facility and wit, and his taste for the perverse, put him in a league with Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard." He is the author of nine comic crime novels, including Pest Control, The Organ Grinders, and Cross Dressing. He lives in Los Angeles, CA, with his wife, two dogs, and a cat named Crusty Boogers.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2012

About the author

Bill Fitzhugh worked at several FM rock radio stations in the 1970s and 1980s. Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, he prefers The Band, Little Feat, and Van Morrison to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Iron Butterfly. The author of numerous screenplays and five comic novels, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and his record collection.

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Exterminators
By Bill Fitzhugh
This was interesting. A fun book about a group of exterminators that are in hiding because of accidentally killing someone, book one, they have fake IDs. They are trying to improve their products and get an offer from DARPA!
What they don't know is that a rogue CIA is after is after them, so is the family of the person they killed. A priest is too, long story, lol.
Things get weird when one of their giant bugs gets loose! Great fun!

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars for The Exterminators: Pest Control Series, Book 2 (audiobook) by Bill Fitzhugh read by Tom Weiner produced by Poisoned Pen Press. This was a fun story. It has some great characters and crazy situations. It’s a little absurd but taking it seriously.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bill Fitzhugh’s second comic thriller featuring bug-killer Bob Dillon has more twists and turns than a cockroach eluding a slipper. Bob and his sidekick, retired assassin Klaus Muller, are working in Oregon on developing an environmentally-friendly alternative to chemical pest control in the form of genetically engineered insects from the assassin bug family. Short of cash, they turn to a venture capitalist for funding, which is a front connected to the DOD’s DARPA, whose representative wants their help in the war on terror. Bob and Klaus wind up in Hollywood, where they become targets of a Bolivian drug lord (again) who puts a $20 million price tag on their heads. One step ahead of the gang of hired killers and the nonstop loony-ness, Bill and Klaus are framed for terrorist attacks at the Academy Awards after-parties. Yes, seriously.

Fitzhugh skewers our modern culture, including the CIA, mainstream and right-wing news agencies, talk-radio hosts, millennial religious fanatics, the film industry, and the environment. All in all, this was another hilarious romp, and is recommended for fans of Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey, and anyone who enjoys a well-plotted thriller mixed liberally with a large dose of humor.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bob Dillon, an entomologist who breeds assassin bugs for environmentally friendly pest control, is mistaken for a killer named The Exterminator. Because of this, a Bolivian drug lord puts a 10 million dollar contract on his head. This attracts many would be assassins to kill Bob including Klaus Muller. Through some really strange sequence of events, Klaus defends Bob from the other assassins and the two work together to kill off the every one trying to kill Bob. They later fake Bob's death and collect the 10 mill from the Bolivian drug lord and disappear to Oregon. Six years later the drug lord discovers he has been duped and this is where this second installment in the series begins.

The Bolivian drug lord puts a 20 million dollar bounty on Bob and Klaus. Bob and Klaus still continuing Bob's environmentally friendly pest control are in need of cash for their research. They are approached by Joshua Treadwell who runs a lab for the DARPA, a branch of the Department of Defense. DARPA, Defense Advanced Research Project Agency sole purpose is to make new and unusual weapons technology for the US Military and they want Bob and Klaus to genetically engineer an assassin bug that can kill humans in battle. Yum! Well how can they resist? DARPA has all the money and equipment they need. A molecular biologist dream. And Bob and Klaus are the DODs Dream Team. Bob and Klaus accept and move to LA, leaving Bob's wife and whinny teen daughter behind, and a crew of crazy assassins on their trail. but the real fun begins when the assassin bugs get out and target...well it isn't a military target.

This book was hilarious for about two thirds of the read. I laughed my ass off. Very clever in making fun of everything from L.A. culture, to religion to a cowboy clad chimp that goes from Hollywood star to lab research guinea pig chimp. But don't cry for Bibo as he has some wicked tricks up his sleeve. The characters were twisted and from all walks of life. And surprises abound. I think the problems started when they finally collided together in L.A., then the book falls flat. The writer runs out of steam and the story just gets tired and cliched. Have not read the first volume but I may give it a try since it is suppose to be better.

[Sid Nuncius · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed The Exterminators a lot and I think it’s even better than Pest Control. It is witty, exciting and full of wry satire.

This time, Bob and Klaus have been successfully living under cover in Oregon for several years, avoiding the drug lord who thinks they are dead. An agent of the Government’s defence agency recruits them to develop anti-terrorist insect weapons. Needless to say, things become very complicated, they end up with assassins on their tails again and wanted by the US authorities. They need an ingenious plan to get them out of trouble.

It’s completely crazy, of course, but Bill Fitzhugh structures it and writes so well that it makes a kind of sense and is a very entertaining read. There is some amusing farce and a good deal of very penetrating satire of Hollywood, US politics, the Christian Right, conspiracy theorists, the broadcast media and so on. Fitzhugh avoids the frequent, rather clumsy Dylan references which were a feature of Pest Control and the book is all the better for it, with just a few much more subtle references like “...that rainy night in Juarez…” which don’t intrude but which Dylan aficionados will appreciate.

In short, this is a thoroughly enjoyable read with some satirical substance to it as well. Warmly recommended.

[Skip · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sequel to Fitzhugh's hilarious book, Pest Control. Unfortunately, nowhere near as entertaining from a plot perspective and without all of the clever musical references too. Bob Dillon and his new partner, former assassin Klaus Muller, are trying to breed bugs for a green solution to pesticides. The government hires them as fall guys for a religious plot to curtail moral excesses, especially in Hollywood.

[Michael Stucker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. I just wasn't as interested in this one. Pest Control took a while to get into, but I enjoyed it once it started moving. I started the Exterminators with enthusiasm, but I only managed to push through to the end because I don't like leaving things undone.

[Randy Briggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been waiting YEARS for a sequel to "Pest Control" and I couldn't be happier. This one was right in my wheelhouse. In fact, if I hadn't recently friended the author on facebook, I would've sworn he found inspiration on my page. All my favorite talking points are here: the religious Right-wing bloviator, "Matt Christopher", host of "Hard Heads" on MSCBN, and a funeral-protesting group of Baptist whackjobs. Bravo, Bill Fitzhugh. Bob Dillon (not the singer) and Klaus are my favorite exterminators/inadvertant hitmen EVER.

[Curtis Rhodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am easy to please and this book made me smile. A crazy concoction of murder and science written with a broad sense of humor. The author poked fun at everything from talk radio to crazy Christian cults to Hollywood to the CIA. This book won't be remembered as one of the great novels but what's wrong with a fun read?

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zany and captivating is how this book came across for me, but others might call it too silly and absurd for words. Great story about as far fetched as you can imagine, but everything is woven together tightly and comes out as logical multiple lines of the story. I will look for more of Fitzhugh's work. This is certainly just for fun reading at its best.

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sequel to Pest Control, one of my favorites. This follow-up is not as good as the first book. I was disappointed with the story and the characters I loved so much in the first book. Not very many laugh-out-louds here.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different from Pest Control, but still a lot of fun.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd forgotten just how funny Bill Fitzhugh could be. Now if he would skip the movies and concentrate on novels!

[Harry Annan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy book......loved the hilarious battle at the end between the various Christian factions. Great satire.

[H R Koelling · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a few reasons why I can only give this book three stars, although I want to give it four stars.

First off, let me be positive. The same humor and excellent writing that I expect from this author were present in this book. I laughed a lot and always looked forward to the next time I could find the time to read it. I haven't really enjoyed his last few novels because I thought he was going off in a direction with his plots and characters that I didn't find particularly engaging or funny. But this book reminds me of the old Bill Fitzhugh I remember from the early books he wrote that always made me look forward to his next project, such as Pest Control, The Organ Grinders and Cross Dressing. For this reason I want to give the book four stars.

Now for the negative. It definitely would have helped if I had reread Bill Fitzhugh's prequel to this book, Pest Control, which was published in 1998. The author references adventures and details from the first book that I couldn't remember from 14 years ago. It almost makes this book too esoteric at times when you can't recall the parts of Pest Control he's referencing.

And, although portions of this book parody modern society, hilariously I might add, the author's approach seems formulaic and unoriginal at times. When I think of Hiaasen's, or Tim Dorsey's, or Christopher Moore's writing -- contemporary humorous fiction authors who also embrace wacky plots and characters -- Bill Fitzhugh's efforts sometimes seem tame and banal. That said, I've read so many novels in this genre that maybe my opinions are a bit biased, because I'm hard to impress. I fear I'm starting to sound like the pretentious film reviewers in the free weekly newspapers in most major cities (NYC: Village Voice; Philly: City Paper; Portland, OR: Willamette Week; et al.). It seems like they're always comparing whatever new film they're reviewing to the greatest movies of all time, and nothing ever seems to impress them anymore. So take this paragraph with a grain of salt; if this was the first humorous fiction book I ever read I would give it five stars, no matter what frivolous flaws it contains.

But what really downgraded this book to three stars for me was the absolutely atrocious editing and proof reading. I counted 32 misprints, blatant grammatical errors and other various mistakes in this 336 page book. That's an error rate of almost one mistake for every ten pages! I don't know what happened to this author that downgraded his novels to publication by unknown/second-rate publishers, but his newest publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, did a terrible job of releasing a professionally packaged novel. I can only guess that, as I mentioned earlier, Bill Fitzhugh's last few novels have been decidedly underwhelming when contrasted with his earlier efforts. It's too bad that this novel, The Exterminators: An Assassin Bug, returns his loyal readers to the great talent Mr. Fitzhugh possesses, yet the final product is marred by bad editing from a second-rate publisher.

Oh well, if you can overlook the numerous odd errors in this book ("bursting like a tiny red skyrockets."; "...building where you've install them?"; "Like an inciting incident in bad movie." etc.) there's actually a pretty good novel here.

Maybe Avon or William Morrow will decide to pick him up again after this latest effort. I hope so. He deserves better, and so do his fans.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book is the sequel to Pest Control, a comic novel about an environmentally conscious bug exterminator named Bob Dillon, who works in New York City.



In Pest Control, Bob Dillon eschews the use of chemical pesticides and is experimenting with 'assassin bugs', which are natural predators of termites, roaches. etc.



To advertise his pest control business, Bob wears a cap emblazoned 'Exterminator', and is mistaken for a professional assassin.



This leads to all sorts of trouble, and a Bolivian drug lord named Miguel DeJesus Riviera puts out a $10 million hit on the exterminator.



A bevy of killers arrive in NYC to murder Bob, and - along the way - Bob becomes friends with a gunman named Klaus Muller. Together, Bob and Klaus fake Bob's death.



With the $10 million bounty from Miguel DeJesus Riviera, Klaus, Bob - and Bob's wife Mary and daughter Katy - move to Oregon, and the men continue their research on assassin bugs.



Their plan is to use gene splicing to make the bugs more aggressive and deadly.



The $10 million won't cover all the research costs though, so Bob and Klaus readily accept when they're offered unlimited funds by Joshua Treadwell from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).



To get the money, Bob and Klaus have to set up shop in a DOD facility in Los Angeles, which will be overseen by Treadwell. The research project expands into the use of pheromones to attract the gene-spliced assassin bugs to their prey. The plan is to induce the bugs to attack ANYTHING sprayed with the pheromones.....including terrorists.



Unknown to Bob and Klaus, there's a secret agenda at play here, promulgated by religious zealots who have an animus against the sinful denizens of Hollywood.



In the meantime, Miguel DeJesus Riviera learns that Bob Dillon is alive, and - furious about being duped - Riviera puts out a $20 million hit on Bob and Klaus. This results in a priest and a professional assassin going after the researchers. While in Hollywood, the assassin catches show business fever and pens a screenplay about....wait for it....an assassin!



All sorts of hilarity results, as well as some REALLY GRUESOME DEATHS....and not of cockroaches and termites.



If you need a few laughs - and have a strong stomach - I recommend this humorous novel.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com

[Rob Kitchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought Pest Control was great fun and was clever with it. The Exterminators, which is set six years later, has the same style and wit, but the plotting was not quite so spot on, with a couple of loose threads (such as French assassin whose plotline kind of goes nowhere), a couple of nonsensical bits (at least to me, such as the CIA agent’s actions), and a less fluid flow. That said, it is still very clever and well executed in parts -- the threads and explanation around genetic engineering, DARPA, and the fundamental religious right and how it sees the world and tries to manipulate the media were excellent. And Fitzhugh mixes together a nicely drawn set of characters, though Klaus’ assassination skills are somewhat underplayed, as are the roles of Mary and Katy, Bob’s wife and daughter. Overall then, a fun and entertaining read, but definitely not for those with a bug phobia.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely a different read for me. I picked this up from the library on a whim, based solely on the title. Overall it was okay. It was written in a little different style than what I was expecting but the story seemed to flow nicely. I might go back and read the first story just so I can maybe understand some of the history between some of the main characters.

[Missmath144 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite letting his hatred of the religious right come out in the book, Bill Fitzhugh still produced a very funny book. He worked for years on this sequel to Pest Control, in which Bob Dillon deveolps lethal assassin bugs for the government. Meanwhile, real assassins are out to get Bob and his friend Klaus.

[Carol Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Multi-stranded and very funny, spoofing the government, fundamentalist Christians, Hollywood..and many more. Fitzhugh can turn a phrase and create a totally unexpected plotline. My favorite? An assassin arrives in Los Angeles and, before he can find his target, he is fingered as a screenwriter/action hero and subjected to plastic surgery to make him the next George Clooney....

[Stanley Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off: read Pest Control before this one. It will enhance your experience. I loved Pest Control and thoroughly enjoyed following some zany characters through further adventures. It's the end of the world as we know it...

[Shanna Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Killer story.

I chose this book because I liked his first book, Pest Control, and had a few giggles. I enjoyed the comedy aspect and good natured tone of the writing. I would recommend it for a day of lite, entertaining whimsy, teenage to adult.

[Jennww2ns · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally enjoy Fitzhugh's sense of humor but I just wasn't into it this book. I think things got derailed too often by: a) Latin naming terminology, b) scientific sciencey stuff, c) Christian schisms.

[Feck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like early Fitzhugh so much better. The humor and irony just aren't there anymore.

[Ron]

Not compelling enough to stick with

[Ben Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first book but still very funny.

[Wes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never got anywhere up to greatness of "Pest Control", plot weak and predictable, nowhere near as funny and a let down of an ending.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stranger than I thought in the beginning but picked up. Will have to read more Fitzhugh to see if I continue with him.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shades of Donald Westlake, Fitzhugh's Bob Dillon is the quintessential unlikely hero. Who else could make a hero out of a man who kills bugs for a living?

[Joe Murolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, easy read. A mystery-style novel written with a humor that reminds me of some of the Dave Barry novels.