Dark, disturbing, scary with an undercurrent of black humour. It kept me on the edge and some parts made me feel really afraid as they were so near reality and you had not a lot o ffilter.
Well written and good storytelling.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, written by Kylie Lee Baker, is a captivating tale filled with gore and ghosts that will keep you hooked until the very last page. This thrilling story will draw you in and hold your attention from start to finish.

This is a horror book that’s hard-hitting, bloody, and emotionally charged.

Cora is an Asian woman living with the trauma of seeing her sister horrifically die in front of her, all while cleaning up brutal crime scenes for a living. She is also living during the COVID-19 pandemic, and being racially attacked. She is called bat eater, and ch*nk, and has to endure hate being spewed at her. And as she wrestles with her sister, the ghosts, and herself, Cora find the courage to say the hard truths to herself, and admit she needs help from those she trusts the most.

What is powerful about this novel is how visceral Cora’s trauma is felt by the reader. Baker writes in such a way that you can feel Cora’s deep-seated trauma, and desperately want her to get help and heal. You also experience intense anger at the ignorant and racist people Cora comes across-something that is/was not just confined to the pandemic.

Baker brings us into the world of what it means be an Asian American living during a time that they were blamed for a virus spreading around the world-something they had no control over. Coinciding with this is the slew of murders happening in Chinatown in New York City-all Asian Americans. The author does not hold back on the viciousness of the crime-laying out in full display the hideousness of the motive behind it. It becomes clear why it is being done, and Cora, and her co-workers must wrestle with that truth. That, in turn, makes us, the reader, wrestle with the anger and rage we feel because of what is happening.

Baker has written one heck of a horror novel that embodies the most terrifying things-our own monsters of racism, prejudice, and supposed racial superiority. We are the demons that hurt and maim those who are different than us. Question is-what will we do about it?

I really enjoyed this book, it was thrilling and horrific and to me hit all the beats of a good horror novel. That being said, I do feel that some of the things that occured later in the novel were a bit much and made me drop my rating from a 5 to a 4, though I still highly recommend it.

⭐️4.5⭐️

This story follows Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner in Chinatown who is haunted by the horrific murder of her sister, Delilah. While also dealing with the pandemic and the presence of her sister’s hungry ghost lurking in the shadows, Cora notices the markings of a serial killer targeting Asian women.

This book was fantastic. It touched on a lot of important, heavy topics without losing its fantastic paranormal horror story. This story explores themes of grief and mental illness while also shining a spotlight on the intense Sinophobia and the rise of racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Baker perfectly blends supernatural horror elements with the real-world horrors of racial violence. There’s so much horror laced throughout this book. From the violent and graphic descriptions of death to the haunting imagery of the ghosts stalking Cora, it was such a crazy ride the entire way through. A must-read for horror fans.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and while I typically struggle with books that focus on the pandemic, I feel this one is an important read. It paints a whole new level of horror that I believe to be an honest look at the racism experienced from the pandemic. It’s a tough read, so please make sure to check the trigger warnings before picking it up.

A special thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the approval of this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

With a setting during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020 in NYC, Baker does an excellent job encapsulating the emptiness of the streets and subway and the fear and anxiety felt, and she uses that to further perpetuate the haunted feeling throughout the novel. The first third of the book is a bit slow, but once it picks up, it doesn’t stop. Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng highlights the dangerous anti-Asian & anti-Chinese sentiment and propaganda that was (and continues to be) spewed. Baker doesn’t shy away from exploring how this translates into the potential of and actual acts of violence from anti-Asian/anti-Chinese rhetoric and adds to the immense anxiety, isolation, and despair Cora feels living as a Chinese-American woman. The horror elements were beautifully done, and this novel does a great job balancing horror, socio-political topics, and recounting living through a pandemic in the modern era.

this was so haunting and obviously carried some very symbolic parallels to the mental, societal and racial impact of COVID-19.

the first half of the story had me gripped and quickly turning the pages to find out what happens but around the 75% mark, i couldn’t really tell what the story was about anymore.

overall, i think this book sheds an important light on mental health & community during times of crisis specifically in regards to AAPI. I thought Cora was a very tangible character despite her unique field of work and I could relate to a lot of her inner thoughts and ways of processing the world.

trigger warning for body horror and gore

thank you to the author, the hive influencer group and harlequin trade pub for the arc in exchange for my honest thoughts 💌

4.5-Star ARC Review: Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker

I was highly anticipating Bat Eater, and I’m beyond thrilled to have received an ARC—huge thanks to the publisher for the opportunity in exchange for my honest review!

This was my first introduction to Kylie Lee Baker’s work, and it absolutely won’t be my last. Bat Eater is dark, fierce, and wholly original—steeped in mythology, blood, and power. Baker’s prose is razor-sharp and lyrical, with worldbuilding that feels both mythic and deeply personal. From the very first chapter, I was hooked.

The main character is compelling and complex—haunted by her past, shaped by vengeance, and constantly walking the line between survival and sacrifice. The themes of identity, legacy, and reclaiming power are woven in with such care that they never feel heavy-handed, just raw and resonant.

Baker doesn’t shy away from violence or pain, but every moment serves the story. The pacing was tight, the twists hit hard, and the emotional depth surprised me in all the right ways. If I’m being picky, there were a couple moments where I wanted just a little more clarity in the lore—but overall, this book delivered everything I hoped for and more.

Bat Eater is brutal, beautiful, and utterly immersive. I’m so glad I got to read it early, and I cannot wait to dive into more of Kylie Lee Baker’s work.

This deliciously haunting horror tale is worth every bite into the pages. You begin right in the action with Cora Zeng and get acquainted with the beauty of the third person. We are seeing Chinatown through Cora’s eyes or are we really? I fell in love with how descriptive this tale is and how the senses are utilized to describe the dead. It may be macabre but I find it so creative how well integrated the senses are because we can see the dead, hear the dead, smell the dead, touch the dead, and taste the dead in a tale.
Learn about the Hungry Ghost Festival and how this is culturally important! It has me thinking if the ghosts are truly hungry or are we manifesting our own desires we have yet to satiate! Furthermore, this tale shows us how culture is intwined in our bones, our way of being, and our psyche.
The way we view the world is through our cultural experiences. Our world can fall apart at the hands of racism, a global pandemic, and being constrained to the normalcy of society.
Breaking away from normalcy is how this book comes to fruition. This new normal defined by COVID is a great manifestation of the horrors it forced into our society. New York City was the perfect setting because of how unruly COVID is in larger cities. Each time we come across someone we never know if they are going to pass us something that they scapegoated the Asian community for. This is a tale about taking accountability and decolonizing the ideas that are forced upon our daily lives.
This is inventive, speculative, and a new flavor to horror. How are we haunted by our society and why do we let it permeate our way of being? There is much to discuss from this tale and how we allow society to make the rules without diverse input. In this bleak environment we need to think about the impact society has on diversity and why it impedes future advancements. This is a MUST buy! Run to stock your shelves and grab a bite with an eerie novel. Thank you Net Galley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Mira for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

A Bloody soaked- emotional roller coaster
that will stick with you for a while.

Such powerful, poetic writing from Kylie Lee Baker. A haunting read full of supernatural horror elements, and real life horrors the Asian community faced during the pandemic. This was one of my anticipated reads for the year and it did not disappoint.

Thank you to Harlequin publishing for the advanced review copy in exchange for my honest review!

I listened to half of this story on audiobook and the other half I read via the kindle. Thank you NetGalley!

Listening to it on audiobook was a very impactful experience. Listening to this story allowed for me to hear it through her eyes, and feel her experience that way. This also allowed for all the horror aspects to be felt as well. I loved that!

This is a brilliant story and heartbreaking at the same time. Having lived through the pandemic I can relate to elements of the story while then reading an experience I never had. She really took real and painful elements of the pandemic and society and the way it effected people and put it in a unique story.

I enjoyed this tremendously!

The horror and Paranormal aspect of this book had me hooked as well as the Chinese mythology of ghost month and the stark difference between religions and cultures in the US. This book really does a great job of encapsulating the thoughts and feelings and just chaos that was very prominent during the COVID-19 outbreak. I love the way Kylie Lee Baker not only touched on the stark changes and over-dramatic behavior of people on both sides, the people who took the extreme side of caution and the people that didn't quite lean into the pre-cautions that were needed during the pandemic but she also focused on the Racism that was brought out surrounding the Asian community and the injustice of the way crimes were treated.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me the opportunity to read and ARC of this book.

I love when a horror book can also make me cry

I think this will be a great book to recommend to people who are not typically horror readers, because there is so much emotion and investment in the characters, the tension is built spectacularly, and I was never, ever bored. That's not to say there's no gore/it's not scary enough; this is unarguably a horror book. But we also get glimpses into grief of many kinds, generational trauma, racism, and a 20 something just trying to make it.

This is my first horror from Kylie Lee Baker and I'm very excited to see what she'll do next in the genre.

https://twelvepaleroses.wordpress.com/2025/03/29/book-review-bat-eater-and-other-names-for-cora-zeng-by-kylie-lee-baker/

Have you ever read a book that was so deeply visceral and haunting set during a pandemic? If not, Bat Eater is that book. This book deals with strong themes of racism, gore, horror and a interesting mix of Western and Chinese culture. There are hungry ghosts, supernatural events, and crime-scene cleaners set in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. I don’t normally read horror books but Bat Eater truly made me a bigger fan of the author. Having read Kylie Lee Baker’s The Scarlet Alchemist duology, Bat Eater blew me away.

It being set during a pandemic, Bat Eater is a very lonesome book. It was also the first book I’d ever read set during COVID. Cora Zeng’s experiences and discoveries about hungry ghosts tied to the Chinese traditions, and her co-workers Yifei and Harvey, and being Asian during the pandemic. This book has no shortage of gore, horror and explores topics of racism and xenophobia. The prose had me hooked with descriptions of Cora’s life in her apartment and her job as a crime-scene cleaner. Together with Yifei and Harvey, they uncover the truth behind the murders of the Asian American women – at a huge risk to themselves and their jobs.

I liked the mysterious aspects of the book that kept me guessing as to who the killer was. Aside from the gore and horror parts of Bat Eater, paranormal activity was also rampant in this novel (the ghost literally eats a coffee table). Unlike most horror stories set in the West, this book ties itself to Chinese religious traditions and superstitions of Hungry Ghosts during the Ghost Month. As someone who is also of Asian descent, it was interesting to see it depicted in a Western society in New York.

Bat Eater will remain one of my top reads of the year. It touches on sensitive topics such as racism, xenophobia, and a body horror/crime sprees. Kindly also note that this book may not be for everyone as it is also filled with scenes of body horror, animal cruelty, murder, and mental health issues, including off-page mention of being institutionalization and child neglect.

Oof, this book is so good, but it will break your heart right out of the gate in chapter 1 (when the murder of Cora's sister occurs). It's such a righteously angry, incisively-written book, and I can't wait for it to be the barn-burner horror book of the year that I have no doubt it will become upon release.

Bat Eater and other names for Cora Zeng made me feel so many emotions.

It brought me back to the height of COVID, which is a time and place that many of us do not want to return to. However, if you completely ignore the existence of an event you cannot learn from the past.

And there are so many people who did not survive to look back on 2020 in 2025.

If we do not remember what so many people went through, in particularly the asian hate and racism that was rampant, there will be no action to stop it from continuing.

Outside of being hard to read emotionally, this book is particularly gory. However, this did not personally bother me and felt vital to the story that Baker is telling.

Overall, I loved so much about this book. It was very well written and had a storyline that kept hooked.

Regret towards the things that Covid took from us. Anger and despair about the horrific racism that Asians faced during Covid. Hope for the main character, Cora Zeng, as I was completely rooting for her as I watched her character evolve. These are all things that I experienced while reading this book, and I would 100% recommend it to anyone.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zheng.

I was pleased my request was approved since the premise was so intriguing.

But this novel is not for the faint of heart.

TW abound: gore, blood, anti-hate and violence, racist expletives just to name a few.

I enjoyed the author's writing and learning more about the Hungry Ghosts Festival.

Cora Zeng is a quiet, introverted young woman who trails in the wake of her alluring sister, Delilah. Being a crime scene cleaner is nothing after witnessing the horrific murder of her sister on the subway a few months ago.

But the crime scenes are bringing back terrifying images of her sister's murder, still unsolved, and Cora realizes she's not still haunted by the tragedy. She's literally being haunted.

I won't lie; this brought back scary memories of the pandemic, the anti-Asian hate and crimes that proliferated at the height of COVID (and still occurs now).

I didn't mind the gore and blood, and the author describes it well, perhaps to highlight the rage and hate behind the crimes towards Asians during the pandemic.

I enjoyed learning more about the Hungry Ghosts Festival but I wished I liked Cora more.

Not surprisingly, she is a typical trope; the more interesting sister dies or is no longer in the narrative and readers are stuck with the less compelling character. That's fine; that's life. Not everyone is the life of the party. I'm definitely not.

But still...Cora is dull. And maybe that's the point.

She doesn't know what to do with her life, she has no interests or hobbies. She has no friends. She has no identity without her sister.

But why? I don't understand why she's so character-less.

She's obviously suffering from PTSD and could use a therapist but instead she just trudges on with life.

I sympathized with her obsession with hygiene and sanitizing her hands and food and items constantly; that was me (still is) before the pandemic and my OCD only increased during the lockdown.

The pacing of the narrative suffers due to the repetitive nature of Cora's life and the slow unraveling of the mystery subplot about the origin of the murders.

I understand lives are mundane and for the most part, nothing happens. But it's hard to deal with Cora because she's so lifeless.

We get nearly halfway through the story before stuff begins to happen and the tone of the story shifts.

I like the ending; the dead never really leave us but it's up to us if we let them haunt us or learn to live with them.

** Thank you so much to NetGalley/Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA and Kylie Lee Baker for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.**

This was an easy to read, medium paced novel set against the background of COVID19. The story follows Cora, an OCD crime scene cleaner- who's just lost her sister to a horrific train accident. This novel dissects the way the pandemic caused mental duress and fear within the Asian community. Cora experiences xenophobia from the white population, while trying to process her grief and clean up crime scenes from a suspected serial killer.

As the story progresses, the author adds in 'hungry ghosts' or pretas- thought to be lower, more animalistic spirits, driven by passion or malice or greed, or the souls of those who were murdered or committed suicide or did not receive a proper burial. These ghosts reveal secrets to Cora in hopes of her freeing their tortured souls.

I enjoyed this novel a lot. The characters were likeable and the slasher type crime scenes were written well. If you enjoy paranormal horror books, I definitely recommend picking this one up!

Cora has a job that is definitely not for everyone. She’s a crime scene cleaner, a job that requires a strong stomach. She witnessed the death of her sister. A horrible murderer pushed Delilah in front of a train. In front of Cora. His chilling words… Bat eater. Asian racism, the pandemic, and a serial killer each play a role in this story. And if this isn’t horrific enough, there are also hungry ghosts.
I’m not sure if this was more a story about illogical hatred, a mystery, or a ghost story. As I’ve considered what I read, I suppose it really is the story of a traumatized woman doing her best to survive. The horrors that befell Cora, the grief, and the two coworkers who become her people.
There wasn’t a moment when I didn’t wish that things would work out for Cora. This story still pops into my head at odd moments. I see a reread in my future. I’m sure that I will pick up on things. I missed the first time. It is a book worth reading.

Thank you Harlequin | MIRA for the ARC!

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng was my second book by Kylie Lee Baker and it had the dark, horror vibe I got from her with The Keeper of Night! This story had some really heavy elements like racism, ptsd, etc. which I feel were handled with care in the midst of the dark and eerie elements like paranormal activity, murder and mystery.

While this story was overall good, I did have a hard time with the slow pace. But overall it was really well done and I know there will be many who absolutely LOVE this book!