It’s always a blast to dive into a new slasher story, but what’s even more fun is a fresh, unique, and entertaining take on the slasher genre such as Tanya Pell‘s This B Just Won’t Die. Pell wonderfully balances horror, just the right amount of humor, and social commentary in this chilling tale.
Former scream queen Barbra Jacobs desperately wants to break out of the box Hollywood has neatly packaged her in. Cast as the star of the Mirror horror franchise films twenty years ago, the breakout role that shaped her career has also destroyed her dreams of being taken seriously as an actress. Now forty, and still seeking the approval of everyone around her, she makes ends meet by signing old photos of herself and doing meet and greets at horror conventions.
So when a producer calls asking her host The Monsters We Made, a hot new horror docuseries, she sees it as a step in the right direction. But when fans begin dying around her—and in ways that mimic the kills in her films—Barb is thrust back into a role she can’t seem to walk away from: The Final Girl.
Will she ever break out of the display-box-life she’s been imprisoned in, or will Mirror Man end it all in Barbie’s Scream House?
As someone who has worked closely with various conventions and hosted a number of panels, its fun to dive into a fictional story the features the convention life. Knowing that a lot of the guests of these conventions are not currently working in their field and spend most of their time signing autographs and taking photos with the fans from their work of the past. Twisting this story from there into a slasher story made for a gripping adventure.
Its not the convention itself that takes center stage, but our main character Barbra “Barb” Jacobs and her struggle to find an identity while dealing with the struggles of aging, typecasting, and finding self-worth. This made Barb’s character feel much more relatable and the stakes all that more higher. Pell wonderfully crafts Barb’s character in a way that made it easy to root for her, while also making her more than a typical Final Girl, one with more emotional depth.
This B Just Won’t Die is proof of Pell’s love for the genre. Pell crafts a horror story that feels familiar to us fans of the genre, all while delivering on surprises and elements that keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s the actual scares in this story that terrify you, but it’s the relationship to real life horrors that hit even harder, including aging, visibility, fame, and societal expectations. Blending these themes into a story, while also creating a sense of unease isn’t easy, but Pell lands it wonderfully.
Pell doesn’t let off the gas with This B Just Won’t Die. It’s a fast-paced story with escalating tension that made each page quick, but also carry a lot of weight and momentum. It’s the dark humor moments that give us a slight break from the tension that allows this novel to be swallowed a bit easier, but it also remains very entertaining during these breaks in suspense.
This B Just Won’t Die is a wildly entertaining slasher that truly understands what horror fans love while delivering something fresh and meaningful. Tanya Pell wonderfully balances frights, dark humor, and thoughtful social commentary on aging, fame, and identity to create a story that feels thrilling and somehow relatable. Barb is a Final Girl worth rooting for and her journey adds emotional weight to the blood-soaked mystery unfolding around her. This B Just Won’t Die is a love letter to slasher fans that proves familiar tropes can still feel fresh and relevant.
This B Just Won’t Die! hits bookstores everywhere on October 13, 2026 from Gallery Books. The audiobook, narrated by Natalie Naudus, is available via Libro.fm!
