Baker was meant to write horror, that's for sure! I was so excited to hear of her adult debut in the genre, and overall, Bat Eater did not disappoint.
There were just a few things that felt a bit jarring. Some of the main points of this book were delivered quite heavy handedly, especially towards the end. Yifei’s monologue before the car crash comes to mind, as well as Cora’s suddenly, well-versed thoughts when for most of the book she was quite disconnected and numb?

However I do think Baker took this subject matter and crafted a compelling horror novel. I ended up paging through this book quickly, unable to put it down! And her author’s note at the end really tied it together well for me.

Cora Zang is a crime scene cleaner amid the pandemic when she witnesses a horrific act of violence—her sister being pushed in front of a train, another victim of the rising racism against East Asian people. As she grapples with her grief, unexplained teeth marks begin appearing on her coffee table. Soon, Cora realizes that something lurks in the shadows—something hungry.

Kylie Lee Baker masterfully blends real-world horror with the eerie comfort of the supernatural. As in her other works, Baker walks the razor’s edge between fantasy and reality, crafting a chilling story where the most terrifying horrors stem from human actions. Eloquently and reflective, readers are captured from the first page.

Ohhhh boy did I love this book. Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an ARC copy to read!

This novel centers around Cora Zeng and how she deals with her life in COVID times amidst the violent death of her sister, the uptick in racism toward Asian people, and being a crime scene cleaner. The crime scenes she cleans are mainly Asian women, and there has been a strange trend of bats being stuffed in various places at the crime scene. Is it a serial killer? Is it related to her sister's death? Cora will absolutely fuck around and find out...

There are so many things I loved about this book I don't even know where to start. The language was vivid and haunting, and there were some scenes in this book that really creeped me out which, as an avid horror fan, is not an easy think to do. Parts of this had me laughing, crying, gasping in shock. All of the emotions.

The blend between the paranormal and the evil that is people just being people is brilliant. I was equally invested in the hungry ghosts and how Cora was going to deal with it and the serial killer killing Asian women storyline. The statement made about the racism against Asian people, particularly during COVID, is masterfully done. I don't think there was as single thing in this novel that didn't work for me.

Overall, this book was a full 5/5 stars. I truly can't wait to see what Kylie Lee Baker does next.

This book is one of the best books I’ve read all year. I tend to stay away from books that deal with COVID but I’m so glad I made the exception for this book.
It was unputdownable. From the moment I started it, I was consistently surprised by what came next. It managed to be the perfect combination of horror, mystery, social commentary, and exploration of racism and domestic terrorism toward Asian American women, specifically around the time of COVID. The descriptions and vivid imagery were horrible, but only because they were so brilliantly and thoughtfully written.
The main character, Cora, suffers from some form of OCD and PTSD, and through her inner monologue, we are able to understand so much about how mental health affected her experience with the horrors within the books. Cora’s inner monologue also allows us to dive deeper into the realities of this period of time, especially as an Asian American woman.
I haven’t been this enraptured by a book in a long time, and I’m so grateful for the advanced copy!

Went into this book without knowing anything about it. It blew my away with its storytelling. I didn’t want to finish the story so I put off reading the last 20% for a few days just so I could really enjoy it.

**Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Posted to: NetGalley and The StoryGraph (retail reviews pending release date)
Posted on: 24 February 2025

4.6 (rounded up to 5) out of 5 stars.

I want to preface this by saying that this book might be a hard read for those who hold traumas and/or any fears from the 2020 pandemic, especially those deeply affected by anti-asian hate crimes that occurred more frequently because of how close-minded people tried to paint out this epidemic. This story is heavy, it’s hard, it’s got a few golden softer moments, but a lot of it was darker than Kylie Lee Baker’s usual work. It’s gory and gruesome and intense, so it’s not a read for everybody. It’s a social commentary piece though, so at the same time, it's almost as important as it is frightening, if not more.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng talks about being Chinese-American in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the grief of a racially charged murder that leaves almost nothing left (or maybe too much left) to mourn, and the hungry ghosts that appear to you when nobody else cares to hear what they may need. This read was strong from the get-go and ended equally as strongly with hardly a space for a breath once the dominos begin to fall.

Cora Zeng, I think, was a good character. I’ve read few horror stories, but none quite like this. In all that I’ve read, the main characters are more self-assured, more solid in their ways, or just more confident somehow. We learn that Cora relied on her sister Delilah a lot when it came to making decisions/general life choices. After Delilah's death, however, Cora is left on her own. What makes this worse is that she’s balancing on the tightrope between the Chinese side of her family (or more specifically her Auntie Zeng and the Hungry Ghost Festival traditions she’s unsure she believes in) and the American side (or her Auntie Lois and her attempts at being a Good Christian Girl). What makes Cora interesting is the very fact that she’s unsure and untethered. When things begin to happen around her, it’s her more human, not-a-born-savior take on it that makes the emotions hit harder. Cora crumbles, she warps within the space Delilah carved out and was ready to take with her even before she was murdered.
I think the rest of the cast that we follow, too, is really lovable. Harvey and Yifei were some of my favorite side characters and I think the way they interacted with Cora helped push the heavier feelings I felt the deeper through the story I got.

As for the plot itself, there were only minor bits where something happened and it felt… out of place almost (up until you see the resulting end and realize how the moments were meant to connect). I genuinely didn’t expect the story within the pages considering the synopsis and I think that’s what kind of led to the stronger emotional reaction in the end. Nothing could have really prepared me for what was going to happen. In the name of the genre, this book horrified me and I really can’t wait to get a physical copy of it just to read it all over again.
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a powerful and well-built read that mixes real life horrors with something more paranormal and supernatural. You wouldn’t expect to find heart in something like this, even more so once the threads unravel to expose the flesh of the fear, but it was a phenomenal take on the grief and trauma embedded in the world, and just how much hatred truly plays a part in it all.

CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Death, murder, blood, grief, mental illness, body mutilation/horror, racism, hate crime, racial slurs, gore, misogyny, femicide, pandemic/epidemic, animal cruelty, sexual harassment, police brutality, medium-detailed crime scenes involving murder/mutilation, child abuse (emotional, neglect), alcohol, forced institutionalization (not graphically detailed), vomit, religious content/religion minorly used to guilt

Creepy, gory, dark imagery. Cora a NYC investigation cleaner witnesses her sister Delilahs murder as they waited for the subway, she gets pushed onto the incoming train. Taking place during the COVID pandemic, a series of murders are happening; all targeting Asian women. I enjoyed the ghost stories throughout, the weaving of different faiths/beliefs. The Pandemic has brought about a serial killer behind hateful acts of crime and violence leaving a trail of Bats with each victim. Bateater; who is the faceless man behind the mask? 4.5

Thank You Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Cora Zeng watched her sister Delilah get pushed in front of a train in New York City during the COVID pandemic, in what was obviously a hate crime. Before the perpetrator ran away, he screamed a phrase that still haunts her - bat eater.

Cora works as a crime scene cleaner, and is noticing a trend of Asian women being brutally murdered or committing suicide in Chinatown. The horrific clean-ups don't bother her much, but finding bats at the scenes of the crime definitely do. Pair this with the fact that her dead sister seems to be trying to tell her something, taking the form of a hungry ghost. As Cora inches further to the truth, the horrors of the world around her become apparent as she tries to avoid the virus and the killer who seems to be searching her out.

This was a helluva good horror novel. What I like about horror, is that it asks the reader where the fear is coming from. And in this novel, the horror comes not only from the paranormal, but from the COVID virus and the racist attacks on the Asian community that happened because of the virus. I loved how the author took that reality at the time and mixed it with the Hungry Ghosts legends from China. The best horror has a message, and this is a perfect example of that.

This novel completely took me by surprise—in the best way possible. I initially hesitated to dive into a story set during the pandemic, still feeling weary from the real-life chaos of those years. But rather than being overwhelming, the setting turned out to be the perfect backdrop for this eerie, unsettling, and deeply compelling horror story.

The writing is sharp, atmospheric, and immersive, pulling me into Cora Zeng’s haunted world with ease. As a crime scene cleaner, Cora's job already places her at the crossroads of death and decay, but it's the lingering trauma of her sister’s murder that truly unravels her. The way the novel blurs the lines between psychological horror, folklore, and real-world violence is masterful. The themes of grief, identity, and fear—both rational and supernatural—are woven seamlessly into the narrative.

While I tend to prefer more action-driven horror, the novel’s contemplative moments didn’t detract from its intensity. If anything, they added to the creeping dread that builds with each page. And when things do escalate, the payoff is chilling and powerful. The recurring imagery of bat carcasses, hungry ghosts, and Cora’s own unraveling psyche made for an unforgettable read.

This is a novel that lingers, much like the ghosts within it. Haunting, beautifully written, and deeply unsettling—highly recommended.

Actual Rating is 4.5 ⭐️s!

If you were to take the thriller aspect and complicated sisterly dynamic of My Sister the Serial Killer, the church confessional monologue from episode 2x05 of the show Fleabag, and the East Asian folklore horror visuals of The Grudge, mix them all up, and plop them down in 2020 New York during peak COVID era, then you’d get Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker.

It’s such a phenomenally written novel that follows our title character Cora, a 24 year old Chinese woman and germaphobe with obsessive compulsive disorder living with her older sister Delilah in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, until tragedy strikes when they are waiting for the train and Delilah is pushed onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train by an anonymous white man, shouting two words as he fled: bat eater. Reeling from the death of her sister and feeling more untethered than ever from the chaotic world around her, Cora finds employment as a crime scene cleaner, where she notices the rising number of young East Asian women who are the victims of lethal violence at the scenes she and her colleagues are called to, with bat carcasses conspicuously present at each scene. To top it all off, Cora begins to receive disturbing visits from her sister’s hungry ghost, which Cora must put a stop to if Delilah is meant to move on, something Cora herself is struggling to do, while also contending with the looming threat of being the serial killer’s potential next victim.

With brilliant and suspenseful pacing, a biting and dark humor, insightful commentary about the effects of xenophobia and racism upon BIPOC communities during the pandemic, and a main character whose desires and response to grief are in such raw and emotionally complex detail, Kylie Lee Baker’s novel is a unique and welcome addition to the horror genre that highlights the haunting aspects of life, grief, race, and trauma that are just as likely to take a bite out of you as any hungry ghost.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc. I also listened to the arc audio version, so thank you for that as well. This was everything dark and funny. I really enjoyed this one as an immersive read. I would rate this book a 5 stars and I would really recommend checking it out if this sounds like your vibe.

This book isn’t just horror, it’s the nightmare we lived in but never fully acknowledged. In a world where mainstream media peddles clickbait and half-truths, Kylie Lee Baker’s novel is the unfiltered scream into the void we desperately needed. Like *The Handmaid’s Tale*, it shoves us face-first into a dystopia that feels chillingly real because it *is*.

Skyrocketing hate crimes against Asians during the COVID pandemic? Buried under "random violence" labels or forgotten in the news cycle's endless churn. Baker doesn’t let us look away. Through Cora Zeng, we confront the raw horror of being dehumanized overnight, scrubbing hands raw, flinching at every shadow, haunted by literal ghosts while society pretends everything’s fine. Cora’s unraveling mind mirrors our collective post-2020 paranoia: OCD amplified by invisible viruses and very visible hate. The bodies pile up, the monsters walk among us, and the question looms *how much will we accept before we say enough?*

And lastly... to whoever is reading this...this book isn’t fiction!! it’s a mirror reflecting the terror we’ve normalized. When horror starts feeling like reality, you should be terrified. Because this time, it’s not just a story. It’s a warning of what despicability is normalized..

Cora Zeng a young Asian American woman living in New York City during the COVID pandemic. Cora witnessed her half sister Delilah, fall to her death on the tracks of a train and when the suspect flees thescene he yells bat eater to her. Cora's job is to clean crime scenes for a living. When Cora starts to notice that the victims are also of Asian descent she wonders if this is not just some kind of hate crime. At every scene Cora has found a bat. The other strange thing is that Cora also sees Delilah's ghost. In order to help Delilah's spirit rest Cora must find out who is behind these attacks. With the help of her two coworkers they travel down the path of feeding ghosts, pieceing together shreeded papers from a dead Asian American police officer and reinacting rituals to make the ghosts go away. This was a great book and I liked the fact that it was told from the point of view of an Asian American, and how unjustly they were treated during the early days of the pandemic. I would like to thank both NetGalley and MIRA Publishing for letting me read an advanced copy of this novel.

4 stars

Cora Zeng saw her sister, Delilah be pushed in front of a train in New York City. It’s the pandemic and she and other Asian-Americans, well, all Asians are the victims of so much hate, thanks, in part, to a President who calls this the China virus. Now it’s hard for Cora, who had essentially spent a lifetime following Delilah in all things, to determine what is real, and what she’s imagined.

It probably doesn’t help that the only job she can find is as an off-the-books crime scene cleaner in Chinatown, s ribbing away the messes left by suicides and murder victims alongside co-workers Harvey and Yifei.

But some additional things are bothering Cora. First, the germs, on stair rails, bare hands, all those places the virus could be hidden. Plus one of her aunts (she has two aunts in the city, they are each annoying and great in their own ways) advises her to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when it’s said the gates of hell open. Cora doesn’t think much about it. She will live to regret this. And why does her cleaning team keep finding the bodies of bats at crime scenes and why are so many of the victims dead East Asian women?

What an interesting book, filled with menace, that puts the reader right back into the midst of the pandemic and gives non-Asians a look into the racism of the period (thanks, MAGA.) Baker has drawn a number of wonderful characters and and great mix of serial killer and supernatural horror. Really enjoyed this. Recommended.

I don't recommend reading this book in your semi-dark apartment near midnight, but if you do, just make sure you have a friend on video call.

Me the last third of this book:

"OH MY GOSH."

"WHAT."

"SHE ATE THEM???"

"THE PLATES."

"Omg thank god they're good at cleaning up blood."

"WAIT. No no no no. Omg no."

"Oh my gosh what."

"Why????!!!"

Cora Zeng doesn't know who she is without her sister Delilah. She's always followed in her sister's shadow, but after her sister's horrific murder, Cora is left drifting like a spirit in a world who sees girls like her as lesser; scapegoats for a pandemic that she has nothing to do with.

I don't think I've read a book that takes place in 2020 during the early months of COVID, but it's a very weird experience going back to the first few months and remembering the toilet paper crisis, the empty streets, the confusion on how long to quarantine, and which masks were better/would keep you safe. I felt for Cora so much, and like in the author's note, she doesn't realize that she will probably still be wearing a mask 4 years into this pandemic.

Cora's OCD is what really made me feel for her as a character, especially since it mimics my own OCD. I feel like more and more books with characters who have OCD try to step away from contamination and focus on other manifestations, since most people associate OCD with hand washing and sanitizing. But it is nice to see this kind of OCD in books, especially in a character who had this before covid came into the picture. Cora's awareness of her coworkers noting how often she sanitizes her hands made me feel so seen, because I know my coworkers notice me wiping down my pens and stethoscope and phone at the end of a shift. OCD really does take over your life, and it's not just the compulsive behaviours, but also the intrusive thoughts and catastrophizing. You live always predicting the worst possible outcome so that you're as prepared as possible for when it happens, and if it doesn't, you're prepared anyway. I honestly loved the representation in this book. There is one scene where Cora gets covid and feels almost relieved that her worst fear has become reality and it's not actually as horrible as she thought it would be (even though she does feel like death) and I honestly wanted to hug her and say "oh sweetie, you don't even know about long covid yet".

The serial killer mystery aspect of this book kept me on the edge of my seat, especially as Cora and her friends were getting closer and closer to figuring out the truth, while also trying to help Cora with her "hungry ghost problem". The dynamic between Harvey and Yifei was so fun to read and really provided the comedic relief this book needed in between all the dark and gory parts.

I love how this book doesn't shy away from social and political issues either. We already know how corrupt the NYPD is and how people in power can coerce and manipulate what cases are considered "important" and what the media should/shouldn't cover. It's no surprise that our world doesn't care about anyone who isn't white, and it's only become even more obvious since covid began. I also really appreciated the mention of Jesus being from Palestine. I know it made the zionists angry, which always makes me happy.

This book is dark and gory and disturbing. But it also feels very real because the purposeful targeting and murder of minorities is our present reality and has been for some time. It's sad and frustrating watching white supremacists and nazis rising into power yet again, and creating a space where people like them are emboldened/encouraged to be hateful and racist.

The ending of this book does leave you feeling hopeful, because resistance, and sometimes violent resistance, is necessary to achieve justice and freedom for everyone.

4.25/5 stars

This is a really unique read. Told from the perspective of a young Chinese American woman, this novel is a horror story that saves its biggest scares for the real-life dangers that exist right outside of our doors. Set during the early-ish days of Covid, we see what it was like for people of Asian heritage to live in urban centers with a constant threat of violence and who faced constant distrust from the general population.

The book also has some incredibly spooky scenes; the ghosts in this one are ones that populate Asian folklore so the book is a perfect, eclectic example of a globalized Gothic, one that is both familiar and not. The setting is NYC; the narrator is trying to figure our her identity as an American who is constantly stereotyped because she looks "just Chinese enough"; the days of Covid are familiar to us all; the ghosts come from a history that will be new to many American readers; and the violence is palpable, transgressing all boundaries.

Good job, Kylie Lee Baker. I'm pretty sure this one will stay with me for a long time. And the resolution to the mystery (because yeah--this is also a mystery story, too) is freaking terrifying.

From the start, this book will do what many books won’t do these days: remind you of the very real, terrifying realities of the Covid era. Mix that in with the hate-fueled crimes across the country, but especially in New York City, and you’ve got yourself a truly horrific tale.

Come for the creepy horror story, stay for the powerful message.

(Thank you, HarperCollins Publishers | HTP Books, Harlequin Audio, and NetGalley, for the e-ARC and audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.)

If you have been even remotely considering adding this book to your TBR, let me save you the trouble: stop thinking and just add it. ((You're welcome!))

I finished this book days ago and have not been able to stop thinking about it since. I have tried so many times to write this review, but nothing I have to say is going to properly express the way this book reaches out from the dark and latches onto you. The spectrum of horror and horror-adjacent topics that are covered in this book ((and covered WELL)) is honestly incredible and done in such a beautiful, horrifying, and impactful way. Fear of the supernatural is one thing, and the imagery the author uses in describing these elements is absolutely chilling.

Cora has so much more to contend with, though. Grief is a massive theme in this book: how do you grieve the loss of a sibling while wrestling with thoughts of the complicated relationship you had? How do you grieve the way your life has changed during a pandemic in the beginning stages? How do you come face-to-face with violent crimes on a daily basis, seeing yourself in every victim, grieving this reality and any illusions of personal safety? Layered into all of this is Cora's fear of herself: is there actually something otherworldly in the dark corners and shadows, or is she slipping into madness?

How do you fight the ugliness of the world ((and maybe the restless ghost of your sister)) while battling your own mind?

What else worked well for me: I will never tire of relentlessly supporting any horror that is lore-heavy, and learning about "hungry ghosts" has sent me down a research rabbit hole from which I fear I may never emerge. The author's depictions are equal parts chilling and compelling and seamlessly woven through the book. The characters in this book are also perfectly crafted. They're all so well-developed and just feel real, though I've definitely selected a "favorite." ((Yes, it's Yifei, and no, I will not be accepting any alternate options.))

What did not work for me: while the pacing for the first 2/3 of the book felt perfect, that last bit felt rushed. As a result, there were a few things that didn't quite have as strong of an impact as they could have. I'd have also loved to see a few things fleshed out more with Auntie Zeng- she feels like she has lifetimes of stories to tell.

The point: I cannot recommend this book more. Show it some love, add it to your TBR, make sure to get your copy, and please support this incredible author... but DON'T turn around when you think you hear something behind you.

((While the viewpoints shared are my own, I want to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins, and Kylie Lee Baker for this complimentary copy.))

6 ⭐️

One of the best horror books I’ve read to date. It’s gory, haunting, horrific and devastating. The plot, pacing and writing are perfection. This book will be cemented into the top books I’ve read for life. I will pick up any book this author puts out.

Please reach out if you need any publicity or reader for this author in the future.

This was so good! You could feel Cora's anxiety with germs and the kill scenes😲. Epic. The Asian community received so much backlash from COVID it really showed how racist Americans are.