Ryan Hyatt has a singular, disturbing habit… Well, I’m sure he has more than one, as all good writers do….

But Hyatt has the unique talent of being able to reach into our brains, our collective unconscious, root around in there, and find what bothers us about our own existence.  Then, he takes it out, dusts it off, examines it closely… and gives it a quick neck wrench to one side and then tucks it back in, waiting for it to take start moving again.

Take his most recent short story, “Bob’s Pest Control,” for example.  It’s set in an all-too-easily identifiable Los Angeles of a very near tomorrow.  But it could just as readily be Boise, or Dubuque, or Spokane, or Tulsa.  It’s filled with people you recognize.  The Karens and Chads you probably watch on YouTube, while simultaneously laughing, cringing, and thinking, “Thank God that’s not me!” before clicking on the Play Next button.  Sure, it’s the world we all know and love, or barely tolerate, but it’s the world we know.

And you know Bob, or a guy like him.  Shorts, beer belly, pink polo shirt… He’s missing the neon techno-pop days of the Roaring ’80s, when Reagan’s America was in full swing and this was a nice place to live.  You know a guy just like him who wishes things could just go back to that simpler age.  

And you know, from that little, cold whisper in the back of your head… that Bob has a plan.

But even the best-laid plans….

So, in just under 50 pages, Hyatt manages to plumb into the banality that we deal with everyday and regurgitate back in a chilling and giddily gruesome, little tale that may change the way you look at exterminators… and Tang… forever.  

VERDICT:    FIVE out of FIVE stars

Creative Team: Ryan Hyatt (writer)
Publisher: Mindful Entertainment
Click here to purchase.