[arc review]
Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing an arc, and to Harlequin Audio for providing an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng releases April 29, 2025

Kylie Lee Baker’s first foray into horror with a pandemic setting offers nuanced social commentary surrounding anti-Asian hate crimes, which saw a rise during COVID-19.

After witnessing the traumatic death of her sister, our 24-year-old protagonist goes from being an art major to a crime scene cleaner.
Alongside her two coworkers, Cora navigates the perilous world of hate crimes, hungry ghosts, her own inner trauma, and a serial killer whose calling card is bats.

Cora’s type of OCD, the way she viewed her place in this world, and her biracial identity were all so deeply relatable to me, and I think that trifecta was a huge reason as to why I was so invested in this story.

Natalie Naudus is a superb narrator, and her diction of Yifei’s dialogue expertly brought Baker’s darkly funny undertones to life.

At this point, I’m convinced that KLB is incapable of writing a bad book!

I think Kylie Lee Baker was brilliant for using the Covid-19 pandemic in such a creative way to tell a story that's also creating awareness of biases and racial disparities at the same time. Adding to the complexities of the story is a suspenseful thriller of a murder mystery. Overall, this was a really good read.

This (at times gory) murder mystery/horror story sees Cora, an Asian American crime scene cleaner getting caught up in a series of grisly serial killer like murders that seem to be connected to her sister's violent death. Set in NYC during the pandemic, the book tackles anti-Asian racism, grief, mental health, killer cannibalistic ghosts and more. It was also good on audio narrated by Natalie Naudus and pairs well with books like The eyes are the best part by Monika Kim. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I love those moments when I just started a new book and immediately knew it was going to be amazing just from the first few pages. And HOLY SHIT, what a wild ride it turned out to be. The way that first chapter ended??

Set in New York during the Hungry Ghost Festival, right in the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic….the story follows Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner struggling with contamination obsessions, grief for her sister who died in a hate crime, and the painful complexities of their multiracial family dynamic. The atmosphere is dark, gritty, and gloriously gory. Some scenes genuinely caught me off guard with how brutal they were. One scene in the second half genuinely made me put the book down for a few hours.
I loved the eerie mystery throughout and the deep cultural roots in every part of the story. And I honestly wasn't prepared for how attached I'd become to the little found family that slowly forms around Cora. Their messy, tender dynamic added so much heart and warmth to this otherwise disturbing story.

This book also didn’t shy away from highlighting some of the deeply disturbing realities Chinese and other Asian people faced during Covid. The hate crimes, cruel slurs, mistreatment, fetishization, dehumanization of Asian people, Asian women in particular. It was devastating to read but so important to acknowledge and highlight. It still enrages me that so many of those crimes were never solved, and the sheer amount of unchecked racism people unleashed during that time was (and is) horrifying.

Without giving too much away (because trust me, you want to experience it yourself), if you're looking for a slow, creepy, eerily unsettling horror that gradually unravels into full blown chaos and with a dash of dark humor and found family feels. This is the read for you. Also, shoutout to the audiobook, the narration was really phenomenal!

Thank you @The Hive and @Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC!

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker Releases on April 29th!

Xèxiè and many thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Kylie Lee Baker’s exciting and timely new novel Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng. I was excited to find this title since the novel uses horror as a framework to examine current issues in society like racism and violence against minorities, especially Asian American women. The title alone is intriguing and led me to request the book. While I was excited to read this book, it’s gory descriptions and psychological intensity exceeded my expectations for the focus and themes of the book, and made the book even more thrilling and entertaining; however, I also recognize that these elements might not be for all readers, so please be warned that the book not only tackles issues like racism and sexism through the lens of horror, but also since Cora Zeng, the main character, is a crime scene cleaner, there’s some pretty graphic descriptions regarding the victims, who are all Asian Americans and mostly women. Furthermore, the book opens in the early days of the pandemic, and Cora witnesses the violent and gruesome death of her sister, Delilah, at the hands of a masked, white perpetrator, and seems to experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, so there are plenty of descriptions about Cora’s depression, obsessions, ruminations, and intrusive throughout the narrative. I appreciated the honesty and detailed descriptions, as this made Cora a more relatable and human character, whose flaws and challenges readers may more easily relate to. However, I also know that this might be upsetting for some readers.
This was an exciting and compelling story, focused on two sisters, Cora and Delilah, who are living as relatively recent graduates in NYC. The story starts in March 2020, just as COVID has taken hold of the world. Cora and Delilah try to navigate what would become difficult daily tasks like shopping for toilet paper in Manhattan. As they wait with uncertainty for a subway, Delilah is pushed onto the tracks by a masked white man who refers to Cora and Delilah, Asian Americans, as “bat eaters”, the derisive term that was used to spread falsehoods and blame for COVID. Cora is unable to save Delilah and watches as the oncoming train takes her life, a traumatic event that will continue to haunt her throughout the story.
The story then jumps a few months later when Cora, who was laid off from her art museum position, secures a job as a crime scene cleaner. She works with two other Asian Americans, Harvey Chen and Yifei. Harvey and Yifei eventually develop a close bond with Cora, helping her solve the mystery of her sister’s murder, as well as recognizing patterns in the murder scenes that they clean up. Although they don’t see any bodies, they find that all of the crime scenes are of Asian women and one Asian American man, who is also a police officer. Although the methods of murder are different, they find bats at the crime scene, triggering Cora to recall the slur uttered before her sister’s murder. In fact, the more crime scenes they clean, the more complex ways the killer has worked to incorporate bats into the scene. These sections that detail the crime scene clean up and discovery of the bats are alternately humorous, although grim and gory, and inventive and clever. Baker uses the slurs and stereotypes to evoke the violence that Asian Americans continue to face in today’s America. Although I don’t know the first-hand, everyday experiences of being Asian American, Baker, through Cora’s experiences and the violence that other characters face, presents the challenges and dangers that arise in the post COVID world. The violence and gore is never gratuitous, but rather helps to emphasize the impact that these stereotypes and racism have on people of color, especially Asian American women.
Cora not only faces racism and discrimination in her broader social experiences during the pandemic, but as a bi-racial woman, she also seems to struggle with accepting her identity. We learn that Cora has two aunts, Auntie Zeng, from her father’s side, and Auntie Lois, from her mother’s side. She spends time with both aunts, but gradually realizes how the traditions and practices of Auntie Zeng help her better make sense of the racism and violence of the world. Auntie Lois, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to really understand Cora’s lived experiences of racism, violence, or even the trauma of losing her sister, who is actually more like Cora’s half-sister from another mother. There’s a really interesting and creepy scene that takes place in the Catholic church that Auntie Lois takes Cora to visit nearly every Sunday. Cora has an interesting experience with confession, that is atmospheric and highly realistic to the kind of creepiness that rites of confession evoke. Furthermore, this leads to another opportunity for Cora to “volunteer” to clean the basement tombs of the church. This was another highly descriptive and atmospheric part of the book, where I started to question Cora’s state of mind. As Cora is cleaning, she begins to hallucinate about figures in the tomb with her, and she sees two different versions of the priest who escorted her down to the tomb. Lee Baker used some of the best Catholic horror tropes like sin and evil, as well as death, to create an unsettling experience, but I also think that this continues to show how Cora’s experience with racism and her interactions with a white world that doesn’t really understand or seem to acknowledge the racism and discrimination she faces has impacted her mental state. This part reminded me of some other more recent books by Asian American writers like Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim, Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang, and White Ivy by Susie Yang. Although Yang’s book is more of a thriller, it still shows how racism and indifference to the experiences of people of color can have psychological effects.
As Cora continues to encounter more and more grisly murder scenes of Asian Americans, hungry ghosts begin to haunt her as well, and one particular ghost, she believes is her sister, Delilah. The incorporation of the hungry ghosts and its monthlong festival was a really great way to incorporate traditional Chinese culture. It was something I heard about, but Baker uses it in a creative and informative manner, creating a truly terrifying ghost that Cora questions whether it is haunting her for not doing enough to protect her, or trying to help her solve the mystery of Delilah’s murder. Cora eventually enlists Yifei and Harvey to help placate the hungry ghosts, and this leads to some interesting outcomes. I won’t spoil the ending, but the novel has continued shifts, and the last quarter of the book really pick up to a propulsive speed, which I couldn’t put down. The first chapter that details Delilah’s murder happened quickly, and the subsequent chapters are much moodier and atmospheric, but Baker does a great job creating atmospheric events while also developing a strong bond between Yifei, Harvey, and Cora.
This was a really great book that uses horror to critique real social atrocities like racism and violence against women and people of color. I wasn’t expecting this to be quite so graphic and gory in the descriptions, but Baker balances this out with eerie descriptions of setting, like empty, cavernous subway tracks and church tombs. She also creatively uses traditional Chinese culture throughout the book, as not only an effective plot device, but also to highlight cultural traditions and differences. Furthermore, I liked how Cora was someone who was struggling with her identity, trying to understand and seek out more of who she was, especially after losing her sister and not having her parents around. It was interesting to learn more about her challenges of developing an identity, and learning more about her Chinese identity, especially in the face of racism, discrimination, and violence. The one question I had about Cora, though, was about her choice to become a crime scene cleaner. One of Cora’s obsessive behaviors, especially after her sister’s murder, was to use hand sanitizer excessively, to the point where Harvey and Yifei notice it and call her on it. Cora also seems to be highly aware of germs, dirt, and other pathogens, especially in her apartment. I can understand how both the traumatic loss of her sister as well as the emphasis on personal hygiene and sanitation during COVID might elicit more of these behaviors. However, it seemed like her choice of being a crime scene cleaner might have been conflicting with her concerns about germs and bacteria. Yet, she also seems to take an interest in recognizing the humanity of the victims, more so than her co-workers. It’s almost like this experience of trying to piece together the victims’ selves and lives that the murder has taken brings her maybe some solace that she lost from her sister. I’m not sure if that was the case, but I don’t really remember Cora’s reasoning being explained that in depth, and it’s not really needed since this was an exciting and compelling book. It’s also not just a horror book, but an interesting mystery that Cora and her friends work on finding who is responsible for these recent murders of Asian Americans. Most of all, I really loved how Baker uses horror to emphasize and critique the horrors of racism and violence against people of color. Make sure to read the afterword since Baker has some explanation about the book and how the racism that COVID resurrected and made more blatant and explicit was a motivating factor in writing this book. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately I don't think I'm the right audience for this book. I tried so many times to get into it and it just didn't happen. Finishing it became a chore. I did not feel a connection and/or investment with any of the characters. There were certain parts of the book that did illicit some emotional reactions but they were few and far between. I struggled to follow the plot throughout the book as well. I have zero doubt there are many people that will enjoy this book. I chose not to post my review as I didn't want to sway someone away from giving this book a try.

(2.75 stars)
First I need to admit that this is not my typical genre; this book was definitely outside my comfort zone. But I was interested to give it a try based on the publisher’s blurb: Asian-heritage women being attacked and murdered in New York City during the early days of the COVID pandemic.

It starts off strong with the scene at the subway station, but gradually lost my interest/grossed me out until I nearly DNF’d it. I’m glad that I decided to keep going with it because the later chapters were pretty strong.

Bat Eater And Other Names For Cora Zeng (great title!) is not for the faint of heart. There are multiple gory deaths and ghostly encounters, as well as icky details from crime scene cleanups, which is how Cora supports herself. Along the way, it highlights anti-Asian racism/hate, which rose to a crescendo during COVID. It also taught me about the tradition of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

I bounced between reading and listening to the audio version. Natalie Naudus did a beautiful job with the narration.

Thank you to MIRA and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

"Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng" was a haunting and gory novel that took me back to the pandemic as well as highlighting some of the horror from that time. Kylie Lee Baker knows how to capture personal horror as well as external and global. The book also has a moral compass without being didactic. Looking forward to reading more of her work. Recommended.

I don’t even know what to say about this one…it was messed up, but kept me reading and wanting to know what would happen. Fantasy mixed with horror mixed with the pandemic…this was totally out of my comfort zone for books but I did like it and the well written characters.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker was one of my most anticipated reads and it gave me more than I expected. Set during the early months of the pandemic, Bat Eater explores the rise of anti-Asian hate through slurs and the growing number of murders of East Asian women. Even in those darkest moments, it made me feel seen as a Chinese person. I loved reading about specific traditions, like burning joss paper and feeding hungry ghosts, in a mainstream horror novel.

Yet Bat Eater is more than just horror. It’s a ghost story, a mystery, and a tale of grief, friendship, loneliness, and self-discovery. It also captures the Asian experience of living through an incredibly isolating, confusing, and hateful time.

4.25/5 stars! The cover of this book was so cool, I was instantly drawn to it. This is a horror thriller but also a look at human depravity that we walk by every single day, including racism. It was just so well written. It handled heavy topics but wove them through the lens of a scary movie and kept me engaged from the first page.

Gothic horror meets cultural reckoning, and the result is a fever dream I didn’t want to wake up from. This book was mythic, raw, and absolutely stunning. The prose cracked open something ancient and tender inside me.

Kylie Lee Baker is undeniably a beautiful writer. I enjoyed the first chapter immensely and think it would make for an enthralling and impactful short story.

Unfortunately, beautiful writing doesn’t make for an engaging book. After the first chapter, the story dragged its feet constantly. Up until about the 70% mark, I felt no attachment to the “horrifying” moments, disinterested even when the content was interesting (and terrifying) in theory. It did pick up significantly, but if this hadn’t been an ARC, I would have DNFd halfway through because I simply didn’t care enough to know what happened.

At the end, I’m glad I finished this story because the Chinese-American perspective set during the 2020 Covid pandemic is an important read. I feel this book is much more geared toward literary fiction enjoyers rather than action-packed horror enthusiasts as myself.

“Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng” will be released April 29, 2025. Although it wasn’t exactly for me, it might be for you.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When people say this is good, they are underestimating. Cora’s sister Delilah decides to leave to visit their father and a creeping slow feeling starts to take her over; she is going to be alone. But then Cora experienced a different kind of earth shattering, end of world experience- in a very graphic and unexpected way.

To make ends meet, Cora becomes employed as a crime scene cleaner in all its detailed guts and glory. And I do mean detail, this will not be for the faint of heart. There is so much real life pain in the writing in this, reflecting the way Asian people were treated in the after effects of COVID; while still balancing out with supernatural elements. As we get to know Cora, it’s also an exploration of grief in a sudden disappearance and how we process unexpected loss.

This gives vibes of that Cassandra Khaw writing, Maeve Fly storytelling in that it doesn’t hold back. And almost getting The Sixth Sense feelings. The story starts off really strong and intriguing but does lose its steam almost halfway in but picks up again closer to the end. I’m disappointed in myself for not having read anything by this author till now and look forward to picking up more.

This was such a beautiful and sorrowful exploration of the societal view of Asian women versus the internal turmoil we face. I loved the use of the hungry ghosts as a metaphor for the societal expectations. This is definitely a new favorite.

4.5 rounded up to 5!
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a gory, heart-wrenching, visceral story of grief, friendship, belonging, belief, culture, and survival. Cora is a Chinese American girl who has always found her identity difficult to navigate and now must do so in the middle of a global pandemic; one that hateful people have wrongly pinned on anyone who looks like her.

This story is dark, gritty, and difficult but it’s also beautiful, poetic, and necessary.

I was a nurse working the floor during the pandemic. We lost a lot of residents, and it's not a time I like to revisit. I’ve avoided every pandemic-related book I’ve come across—until now. And to be honest, I’m not usually into ghost stories. I don’t think I even realized this book was haunted when I picked it up. The crime scene cleanup angle was enough to hook me, and everything else came along for the ride. So really, I was set up not to enjoy this book… but I had the exact opposite experience.

What I loved:

- The exploration of religion/spiritualism and the contrast between belief systems. It was fascinating to see how both of Cora’s aunts approach faith and morality.

- The friendship dynamic between Cora, Harvey, and Yifei—it felt authentic and deep.

- The insights into Chinese culture and the broader Chinese American experience.

- The true crime plotline—it was compelling and well integrated.

- The gore! It’s very well written. One scene even made me gag—which _never_ happens, lol.

What didn’t work as much:

This would’ve been a five-star read for me if the pacing had been slightly different. I just wanted more of the true crime/serial killer storyline in some places. But again, I’m not typically a “haunted” reader, so I think that might be more about me as a reader than any flaw in the book itself.

Cora is published in the USA on 4/29!

Quotes:

"She opens herself to be God's parasite instead of Delilah's, and like always, no one answers."

"But Cora knows the face of fear is not an abstract what-if. Fear is born in the after, when the world peels back its skin and shows you its raw, pulsing innards, when it forces you to remember its name. Anyone who has seen the face of fear knows you should damn well be afraid."

"This is why Cora is always quiet— when something actually matters, it matters too much, and everyone can taste it in her words. It scares them, how much it matters to her."

"But in Hell, it is always just yesterday that everything was lost. The dead do not forget."

"She knows this, none of this is new, this is all just fingers running over scar tissue."

"And Cora knows all to well that you can't fear someone who has no power over you."

This was a very unsettling and dark book. Set during the Covid pandemic, we see Cora Zeng navigating her life after her sister was murdered in a hate crime. As a crime scene cleaner, she sees some truly gruesome things, but when other Asian women start being murdered, Cora starts to wonder if something sinister is going on, especially once a ghostly presence reveals itself to her. I did really enjoy this book overall. I thought it was such an important perspective to see during the pandemic when Asian hate crimes were skyrocketing. Also, I enjoyed seeing Cora grow closer to Yifei and Harvey and gain more confidence in herself. I did think the middle dragged quite a bit, but the beginning and end definitely had me intrigued and excited to see what would happen. I think this is a perfect book for fans of The Eyes Are the Best Part. Also, I loved the author’s note at the end and how she dedicated the book to everyone that was lost during the pandemic.
CW: racism, hate crimes, murder, gore, death, animal death, religious bigotry, pandemic

Thank you NetGalley, HTP Books and MIRA Books for the advanced digital reader’s copy!

After her sister is pushed in front of a train in an act of racist violence, Cora Zeng works as a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of the dead. She's not always sure what's real and what isn't, but when the Hungry Ghost festival brings the possibility of a haunting and the deaths of East Asian women increasing, the lines blur and nothing is as it seems.

I read this book in one setting. I devoured it, stayed up later than I should have because I needed to know how it ended. This book has some gnarly gore and horrific deaths (that's always a compliment) but the horror of the racism and hatred Cora and her friends face cannot be understated. This book had a wave of rage building in me as Cora dealt with people who blamed her for COVID and shouted slurs at her, and the book begins with the blood-spattered, racially motivated death of her sister. It's a hell of an effective intro.

The looming pandemic and the threat of spirits and serial killers is oppressive, and Cora's struggles to remain grounded in reality were both realistic and awful. This book covers a broad spread of issues, integrating them skillfully and building a believable crew and setting. I was 100% invested, with Cora all the way through to the end.

Highly recommend this one.

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CW blood, gore, murder, death (human and animal), racism, pandemic (COVID-19), mental illness, child abuse/neglect

Cora Zeng, known as the Bat Eater, is a character shaped by the hate she faced during the pandemic and by the spirits that haunt her. In a fearful New York, filled with anti-Asian violence, Cora and her friends clean the scenes of murdered Asian women. They find bats at each scene and the ghosts of the victims looking back at them. Cora is not loud or attention-seeking, but she carries the weight of collective trauma. Her names, Bat Eater, ghost-seer, cleaner, reflect what she endures rather than who she is. The name "Bat Eater" echoes the racism of the pandemic, turning something painful into a mythic reminder. It shows us that names can hurt, but they can also hold power, especially when spoken by the dead.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a gut-punch of a debut—gory, ghostly, and unflinchingly honest. Set in pandemic-era New York, Kylie Lee Baker’s novel follows Cora, a mixed-race crime scene cleaner haunted by the brutal hate crime that killed her sister and the growing pile of murdered Asian women she’s tasked with cleaning up after. As bat carcasses and hungry ghosts begin to appear, Cora realizes something sinister is stalking her community—and it might not be entirely human.

Blending slasher thrills with Chinese folklore and razor-edged social commentary, this is The Grudge by way of Get Out, with a voice that’s darkly funny, furiously grieving, and deeply alive. Baker doesn’t flinch from horror—be it supernatural, systemic, or psychological—and the result is a novel that’s bloody, bold, and unforgettable. A scream of rage and sorrow wrapped in a ghost story that refuses to be ignored.