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PEST CONTROL
Most of Charles’s customers have rats. The unlucky ones have demons.
For fifteen years, Charles has worked the hidden side of pest control. He knows what claw marks mean, how to read a crawlspace, and which stains require more than bleach. Ordinary people see an exterminator in a battered van. The guild sees a reliable hunter.
His twelve-year-old daughter sees a father who has spent fourteen months treating grief like another job to survive.
Then demon blood gets on Charles’s work jacket, and Ellie touches it.
At first the changes are sunlight hurts, familiar food turns foul, sounds travel too clearly through walls. Soon Ellie is stronger than she should be—and frightened of what her body will do next.
The guild’s doctrine leaves no room for hope. Once a human begins to turn, the human is gone. Protocol is find the creature and kill it.
Charles packs the van and takes Ellie into the Mojave. He tells his friends they’re taking a summer road trip and chasing a the Great White, a demon no hunter has managed to catch. What he needs is an answer. Something that explains why his daughter is changing—and why she is still his daughter.
But the hunters he’s hiding her from are the people who know him best. They check in. They offer help.
And Charles knows exactly what that help will look like if they discover the truth.
For fifteen years, Charles has worked the hidden side of pest control. He knows what claw marks mean, how to read a crawlspace, and which stains require more than bleach. Ordinary people see an exterminator in a battered van. The guild sees a reliable hunter.
His twelve-year-old daughter sees a father who has spent fourteen months treating grief like another job to survive.
Then demon blood gets on Charles’s work jacket, and Ellie touches it.
At first the changes are sunlight hurts, familiar food turns foul, sounds travel too clearly through walls. Soon Ellie is stronger than she should be—and frightened of what her body will do next.
The guild’s doctrine leaves no room for hope. Once a human begins to turn, the human is gone. Protocol is find the creature and kill it.
Charles packs the van and takes Ellie into the Mojave. He tells his friends they’re taking a summer road trip and chasing a the Great White, a demon no hunter has managed to catch. What he needs is an answer. Something that explains why his daughter is changing—and why she is still his daughter.
But the hunters he’s hiding her from are the people who know him best. They check in. They offer help.
And Charles knows exactly what that help will look like if they discover the truth.
364 pages, Paperback
Published September 15, 2026
About the author
James Anderson Foster
284 books16 followersA decorated U.S. Army combat veteran of Operation Desert Storm, he served in a rapid-deployment Cavalry unit that helped spearhead the VII Corps invasion of Iraq and engage their elite Republican Guard. Years later, he earned a PhD in Clinical Psychology, which means he now understands exactly why his characters make terrible decisions under pressure.
Under the name J.A. Foster, he writes high-intensity espionage thrillers shaped by his years living in Germany during the final days of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall — a front-row seat to shifting alliances and collapsing regimes.
As James Anderson Foster, he writes urban fantasy where Egyptian spellcraft, Norse runes, vampires, and modern technology collide in mostly inconvenient ways.
He is also an award-winning audiobook narrator of over 500 titles, including Marvel's Doctor Strange and the entire Firefly franchise, which means if you’ve listened to enough genre fiction, there’s a decent chance you’ve already heard him. He lives with his family, an unimpressed cat, and more fictional governments than strictly necessary.
Under the name J.A. Foster, he writes high-intensity espionage thrillers shaped by his years living in Germany during the final days of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall — a front-row seat to shifting alliances and collapsing regimes.
As James Anderson Foster, he writes urban fantasy where Egyptian spellcraft, Norse runes, vampires, and modern technology collide in mostly inconvenient ways.
He is also an award-winning audiobook narrator of over 500 titles, including Marvel's Doctor Strange and the entire Firefly franchise, which means if you’ve listened to enough genre fiction, there’s a decent chance you’ve already heard him. He lives with his family, an unimpressed cat, and more fictional governments than strictly necessary.
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