Rattus New Yorkus is another fun, cheese-filled horror offering by Hunter Shea. Chris and Benny are exterminators contracted by New York to help control the pest population. At urgings from city and scientists, the city exterminators are testing out a new position called Degenesis. This new chemical is said to work against rat reproduction, making it impossible to sustain colonies. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be what’s happening. Instead, Chris and Benny are finding evidence of an increase in rat population. And increased aggression and intelligence. When the rats take to the streets in a frenzy more than once, attacking citizens, it’s up to the exterminators and military to track the main nest and attempt to wipe out the plague of rodents.

Rattus is #2 in the One Size Eats All series. I quite enjoyed Jurassic Florida, but monstrous iguanas are a little improbable. Chemically altered rodents less so. Humans are constantly altering animal behaviours with the crap we dump in the environment. Pesticides are no exception. Everything adapts to what you throw at it, and it’s clear that wild rats responded radically differently to the Degenesis position than the test subjects did. I kept rats once, as pets, and as breeders for python food. I know how smart those rats were, and wild rats need to be a lot savvier in order to survive. This was a short read, more plot driven than character driven. Unlike Jurassic Florida, Rattus felt a little more serious. I imagine it goes back to that believability factor. It’s much easier to see this actually happening. I’m interested to see what critter will be showcased in the series next! Bees? Bees would be fun. Wild boar? Crows?

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.