Hanover Square Press has acquired a satirical horror-romance novel by debut author Clare Ogawa, a pen name used by a real Hollywood industry insider who wishes to remain anonymous while still working in the business. "This Town Will Eat You Alive," due out on 6 July 2027, draws on the author's own experience starting out as an assistant, reimagining the exploitative side of the industry through a horror lens in which a powerful studio boss literally transforms into a monster.

The book follows assistant Frankie Meyers as she uncovers that her boss, studio head Lee Becker, is turning into a tentacled creature that preys on women, forcing her to weigh her career ambitions against stopping him, with help from his son Blue. Hanover Square Press's Dina Davis acquired North American rights in a preempt from agent Jenny Bent. Ogawa, described as a Gen-Z mixed Japanese-American author currently working in Hollywood, said the monstrous boss was a way to externalise fears about whether #MeToo-era misconduct had truly stopped or simply gone underground.