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?
While there isn’t anything specifically summery about THIS B JUST WON’T DIE!, Tanya Pell’s upcoming feminist slasher novel, there is something about summer that always has me craving slashers!
This one doesn’t come out until the fall, but I couldn’t wait to dive in! This is the second book of Pell’s that I’ve read (I loved HER WICKED ROOTS), and I had such a blast with this.
This is the story of Barbra Jacobs, a forty-year-old actor & star of the popular “Mirror” series of slasher films. Barbra, who used to go by Barbie and now prefers Barb, played Debbie, the final girl. And no matter how much she wants & tries to move beyond these movies, she just can’t seem to escape them. Signing pictures at horror cons, dealing with obnoxious & lewd men in her signing line. She’s hoping for another shot, but Hollywood seems to have moved on without her.
But her luck changes when she gets an opportunity to host a horror movie retrospective show, where each episode will dive into the history & lore of a particular movie or franchise. It’s a great opportunity & she jumps at the chance.
Unfortunately, right around the same time, people in Barb’s orbit have a nasty habit of getting brutally murdered. Someone seems to be painstakingly recreating the Mirror Man killings from Barb’s movies! And if we learned anything from Scream, it’s that EVERYBODY’S A SUSPECT! Whether it’s former costars, or Scott, her best friend/assistant, or the curmudgeonly director of the first Mirror movie, or maybe even the kind man who played the Mirror Man in the movies…Barb’s sense of security and reality begin to unravel around her, and she doesn’t know who to trust.
I loved the balance of tone in this book so much. It’s got the whole meta-slasher vibe that Scream popularized, so it’s extremely self-aware, but there’s also a real emotional core to the story. And it’s funny & snarky, too. But then the kill scenes are just brutal & wickedly violent, and you kind of snap to attention, because this book is not fucking around.
And Barb is such a complex character, not remotely your average final girl! There’s a real pathos to this woman, as she is in a constant battle with herself and her lifelong habit of people pleasing. I found some of her struggles & inner monologue deeply relatable, as she copes with her changing and aging body. Barb also has BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder) and avoids looking into mirrors as much as possible. I think the inclusion of Barb’s BDD is genius on a couple levels. One, it’s a great bit of representation for a mental health disorder. But two, there’s this extra layer of nuance to it, because Mirror Man? He wears a mirrored dome for a mask. So whether she was on a film set in her twenties or fighting for her life in her forties, she has no choice but to look in the mirror.
THIS B JUST WON’T DIE! is such an addictive read, fun & fast paced, and a book that kept me guessing all the way til the end. Oh, and sharp-eyed readers (it’s me, I was sharp-eyed, I’m patting myself on the back here) will pick up some references to some newer horror novels! I thought that was such a cool little touch. What an awesome book this is! THIS B JUST WON’T DIE! will be the fall slasher novel!
Big thanks to Gallery Books for sending the ARC my way! THIS B JUST WON’T DIE! releases October 13th, because of course it does!
Grimdark Dad 