Why was the Dirty Harry franchise so hugely popular, besides having hot Clint Eastwood as the hero? The bad guys got theirs. Using that premise and a healthy dose of comedy, author Bill Fitzhugh has created a clever and intelligent story about a man with a dream--of creating an all natural means to control multi-legged pests. All kinds of things are explained it to you in exquisite detail, Latin names are included so your brain as well as your stomach muscles will get a workout from learning and laughing as he gets involved with humans even more nefarious than the insect pests.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It was different, engaging and humorous. Not my usual type of read but I enjoyed it. I’d happily recommend it.

A weird, funny and entertaining book that made me laugh and kept me hooked.
It's a well written story, a comedy of errors full of black humour that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I enjoyed Pest Control. It is well written and amusing, if bonkers. It has some of the wit and craziness of Carl Hiaasen about it and I suspect if you like Hiaasen, you’ll like this.

Bob Dillon (!) is an entomologist who is somewhat obsessed with bugs and dreams of starting an environmentally-friendly pest extermination business. By a somewhat ridiculous chain of misunderstandings he is hired as a hit man (although he doesn’t realise it) and then becomes the target of the world’s top assassins. It’s a good story if you don’t expect grim realism and it is full of comic episodes. Some are very funny, some a little less so, but I found it very entertaining overall.

Bill Fitzhugh uses his character’s name to sneak in a huge array of references to Dylan titles and lyrics. Again, some are neat and smile-inducing, while the unsubtle gratuitousness of others does grate a bit. For example, I liked one trapped characters saying to another “There must be some way out of here,” and a reminiscence about being lost one time in Juarez in the rain, which fitted the narrative, but I could have done without a wholly gratuitous description of a passer-by wearing a leopardskin pillbox hat or character shooting someone and then yelling, “Those were shots of love! Infidel!”

Minor reservations aside, I did find this a very entertaining read overall and I’ll definitely try some more of Bill Fitzhugh’s books. Recommended.

(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)