Pest Control
PROFESSIONAL EXTERMINATOR
FIFTEEN YEARS FIELD EXPERIENCE!
GONE PRIVATE WITH LETHAL NEW
CONCEPT! NO PEST LEFT ALIVE!

Bob Dillon just can't get a break. A down-on-his-luck exterminator, all he wants is his own truck with a giant fiberglass bug on top—and success with his radical new, environmentally friendly pest killing technique. So Bob decides to advertise.

Unfortunately, one of his flyers falls into the wrong hands. Marcel in Paris needs an assassin to handle a million dollar assignment, and he figures that Bob Dillon's his man. Through no fault—or participation—of his own, an unwitting bug-killer from Queens has become a major player in the shady world of contract murder. And now he's running for his life through the wormiest sections of the Big Apple—one step ahead of a Bolivian terminator, a homicidal transvestite dwarf, meat-headed CIA agents, cabbies packing serious heat...and the world's greatest hit man, who might just turn out to be the best friend Bob's got. PROFESSIONAL EXTERMINATOR
FIFTEEN YEARS FIELD EXPERIENCE!
GONE PRIVATE WITH LETHAL NEW
CONCEPT! NO PEST LEFT ALIVE!

Bob Dillon just can't get a break. A down-on-his-luck exterminator, all he wants is his own truck with a giant fiberglass bug on top—and success with his radical new, environmentally friendly pest killing technique. So Bob decides to advertise.

Unfortunately, one of his flyers falls into the wrong hands. Marcel in Paris needs an assassin to handle a million dollar assignment, and he figures that Bob Dillon's his man. Through no fault—or participation—of his own, an unwitting bug-killer from Queens has become a major player in the shadyworld of contract murder. And now he's running for his life through the wormiest sections of the Big Apple—one step ahead of a Bolivian terminator, a homicidal transvestite dwarf, meat-headed CIA agents, cabbies packing serious heat...and the world's greatest hit man, who might just turn out to be the best friend Bob's got.

Author Biography: Bill Fitzhugh was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. He has worked in radio, television, and film. His other novels are Pest Control (1997) and The Organ Grinders (1998). He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next novel.

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Pest Control
PROFESSIONAL EXTERMINATOR
FIFTEEN YEARS FIELD EXPERIENCE!
GONE PRIVATE WITH LETHAL NEW
CONCEPT! NO PEST LEFT ALIVE!

Bob Dillon just can't get a break. A down-on-his-luck exterminator, all he wants is his own truck with a giant fiberglass bug on top—and success with his radical new, environmentally friendly pest killing technique. So Bob decides to advertise.

Unfortunately, one of his flyers falls into the wrong hands. Marcel in Paris needs an assassin to handle a million dollar assignment, and he figures that Bob Dillon's his man. Through no fault—or participation—of his own, an unwitting bug-killer from Queens has become a major player in the shady world of contract murder. And now he's running for his life through the wormiest sections of the Big Apple—one step ahead of a Bolivian terminator, a homicidal transvestite dwarf, meat-headed CIA agents, cabbies packing serious heat...and the world's greatest hit man, who might just turn out to be the best friend Bob's got. PROFESSIONAL EXTERMINATOR
FIFTEEN YEARS FIELD EXPERIENCE!
GONE PRIVATE WITH LETHAL NEW
CONCEPT! NO PEST LEFT ALIVE!

Bob Dillon just can't get a break. A down-on-his-luck exterminator, all he wants is his own truck with a giant fiberglass bug on top—and success with his radical new, environmentally friendly pest killing technique. So Bob decides to advertise.

Unfortunately, one of his flyers falls into the wrong hands. Marcel in Paris needs an assassin to handle a million dollar assignment, and he figures that Bob Dillon's his man. Through no fault—or participation—of his own, an unwitting bug-killer from Queens has become a major player in the shadyworld of contract murder. And now he's running for his life through the wormiest sections of the Big Apple—one step ahead of a Bolivian terminator, a homicidal transvestite dwarf, meat-headed CIA agents, cabbies packing serious heat...and the world's greatest hit man, who might just turn out to be the best friend Bob's got.

Author Biography: Bill Fitzhugh was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. He has worked in radio, television, and film. His other novels are Pest Control (1997) and The Organ Grinders (1998). He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next novel.

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Pest Control

Pest Control

by Bill Fitzhugh
Pest Control

Pest Control

by Bill Fitzhugh

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Overview

PROFESSIONAL EXTERMINATOR
FIFTEEN YEARS FIELD EXPERIENCE!
GONE PRIVATE WITH LETHAL NEW
CONCEPT! NO PEST LEFT ALIVE!

Bob Dillon just can't get a break. A down-on-his-luck exterminator, all he wants is his own truck with a giant fiberglass bug on top—and success with his radical new, environmentally friendly pest killing technique. So Bob decides to advertise.

Unfortunately, one of his flyers falls into the wrong hands. Marcel in Paris needs an assassin to handle a million dollar assignment, and he figures that Bob Dillon's his man. Through no fault—or participation—of his own, an unwitting bug-killer from Queens has become a major player in the shady world of contract murder. And now he's running for his life through the wormiest sections of the Big Apple—one step ahead of a Bolivian terminator, a homicidal transvestite dwarf, meat-headed CIA agents, cabbies packing serious heat...and the world's greatest hit man, who might just turn out to be the best friend Bob's got. PROFESSIONAL EXTERMINATOR
FIFTEEN YEARS FIELD EXPERIENCE!
GONE PRIVATE WITH LETHAL NEW
CONCEPT! NO PEST LEFT ALIVE!

Bob Dillon just can't get a break. A down-on-his-luck exterminator, all he wants is his own truck with a giant fiberglass bug on top—and success with his radical new, environmentally friendly pest killing technique. So Bob decides to advertise.

Unfortunately, one of his flyers falls into the wrong hands. Marcel in Paris needs an assassin to handle a million dollar assignment, and he figures that Bob Dillon's his man. Through no fault—or participation—of his own, an unwitting bug-killer from Queens has become a major player in the shadyworld of contract murder. And now he's running for his life through the wormiest sections of the Big Apple—one step ahead of a Bolivian terminator, a homicidal transvestite dwarf, meat-headed CIA agents, cabbies packing serious heat...and the world's greatest hit man, who might just turn out to be the best friend Bob's got.

Author Biography: Bill Fitzhugh was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. He has worked in radio, television, and film. His other novels are Pest Control (1997) and The Organ Grinders (1998). He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next novel.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781788423205
Publisher: Duckworth Books Ltd
Publication date: 04/22/2021
Series: The Assassin Bugs , #1
Pages: 338
Product dimensions: 5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

Bill Fitzhugh is the author of seven novels. He still has all of his original organs and plans to keep it that way until the very end, at which point he is willing to let the doctors divvy them up among anyone (with the exception of politicians) who might need them. However, he makes no promises about the quality of his liver. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and all of her organs.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

His eyes were metallic blue jewel beetles peering out from underneath a pair of furry black caterpillars. He was in good shape for thirty-five, with broad shoulders and nicely muscled arms. A swarm of dark wavy hair topped his six-foot frame and he had a gentle smile that lent him an affable aspect, a chewy niceness. Just looking at him, you'd never guess he was a professional killer.

He lived in New York City, a place where, on average, some one was hit by gunfire every eighty-eight minutes. This annoyed him. It was hard to get noticed in such a place, and if he was going to succeed as a paid killer, he was going to need a reputation. So fight now he was out to make a name for himself-a name other than the one he had.

When he was born in October of 1957, his parents-Curtis and Edna Dillon of Newark, New Jersey-had no way of knowing that six years later Robert Allen Zimmerman of Duluth, Minnesota, would release a record and explode onto the world of rock and roll under the pseudonym Bob Dylan. So, looking back, it was purely a case of bad timing that Curtis and Edna named their son Bob.

Bob Dillon.

It was spelled differently, but it sounded the same, and that was all that mattered. As a consequence Bob Dillon endured a humiliating childhood, all too frequently being forced by neighborhood bullies to sing the Dylan classic, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35."

Bob hated this not only because his off-key rendition inevitably resulted in taunting and laughter, but also because he hated the song and couldn't understand the title. Dylan never mentioned any women, rainy day or otherwise, much less those numbered twelve and thirty-five .

Neithercould he ever understand how the song reached number two on the pop charts in 1966. To Bob, it was an endless succession of unimaginative variations on They'll stone you when you're driving in your car . . ." This carried on interminably until it reached its obtuse chorus of "Everybody must get stoned!"

Bob always imagined his childhood wouldn't have been so bad if he'd been forced to sing "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Mr. Tambourine Man"-songs he actually enjoyed. Fortunately, Bob was possessed of a resilient and compassionate character, so he never blamed his parents for the abuse he suffered at the hands of neighborhood bullies. In fact, except for the murderous profession he eventually undertook, Bob never showed the slightest ill effect resulting from his name.

So, yeah, Bob planned on making a name for himself alright, but right now he had a contract to fulfill.

He opened the door and looked down the flight of stairs leading into the darkness He hit the light switch, illuminating his khaki jumpsuit and the case he carried; it was dented and scuffed, evidence of a lot of jobs. A lot of killing.

Bob crept down the creaking wooden stairs, dodging spider webs as he descended into the dank basement. He crossed the room and set his case on the damp concrete floor; he flipped the rusting brass latches and threw it open.

As he reached into the case he glanced at his wrist and the solid-plastic Casio timepiece: 2:00 P.M. "Right on time," he muttered to a cockroach that scurried past.

With a practiced, almost mechanical, skill, Bob picked up a long, slender tube and screwed it into an exotic-looking curved wooden handle He attached a valve gate to the apparatus, then clamped one end of a hose to the tube and the other end to a small compression tank. Those tasks completed, Bob carefully pumped the plunger on the tank and then nipped the valve gate, watching as the cylinder pressure gauge jumped to three hundred pounds of attention. He smiled.

"I am here to deal death," Bob mused out loud. He chuckled to himself.

Next, he pulled a two-inch hole-drilling attachment from his case and attached it to the business end of a battery-powered Black and Decker drill. Then he tested it. Whrrrrrrzzzzzzz.

Satisfied with his tool, Bob knelt and bored a hole near the baseboard. He pulled a penlight from his pocket, peered into the hole and saw what he was there to kill: Periplaneta americana, a.k.a. the American cockroach. Dozens of them.

"If I had my way," Bob said wistfully, "your deaths would be much more dignified."

This wasn't idle chatter.

Not at all.

Pest Control. Copyright © by Bill Fitzhugh. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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