Review of "The Exterminators: Assassin Bug #2" by Bill Fitzhugh

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.

Rating: 3.5 stars