Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner in New York City’s Chinatown, grapples with the traumatic loss of her sister, Delilah, who was murdered in a hate crime during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The novel has received praise for its exploration of grief, mental illness, and Sinophobia. Because of the excellent reviews, I decided to simultaneously read and listen - my favorite way to experience a book.

I’m not a horror fan, but I have been known to grant 5 stars to horror books. Although I prefer a fast pace, I can handle slow IF it’s not matched with repetitive ruminations, which this was.

I don’t have a problem with COVID stories (why does anyone? I mean, it was a pretty momentous event we lived through), but xenophobia and any kind of racism infuriate me, making for a painful reading experience - and not in a positive way - like I just get angry.

Suffice to say, this was not for me. Sometimes it’s wise to say less, and because this was not my book and it’s wildly popular, I’d recommend this to horror fans who enjoy an important and unique exploration of the pandemic we lived through.

Thanks to @Netgalley and
@HarlequinTradePublishing and @HarlequinAudio for access to this advanced readers copy

A gorgeous, thought-provoking novel about the East Asian experience during the height of the pandemic. Kylie expertly wove in paranormal elements rooted in Chinese culture while staying true to the horrific hate crimes against Chinese Americans during COVID.

This is my first pandemic novel and it was done beautifully. I devoured each page, and also alternated with the audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job keeping me engrossed. Everyone has to read this!!

The authors note at the end 🥺

Thank you Harlequin for the ARC and ALC!

All the stars for horror and social commentary.

I tend to shy away from books that take place during the pandemic because it all feels too fresh (what do you mean it's been 5 years?). But when I saw the synopsis of this, I knew that I had to pick it up.

Following witnessing her half-sister's murder at a train station, Cora Zeng starts working as a crime scene cleaner in the middle of the 2020 COVID pandemic. Between a string of murders targeting Asian women, mental health issues, and the looming fear of Hungry Ghosts, Cora realizes that nothing she knows is what it seems.

First and foremost - if you're a fan of horror movies such as The Grudge, The Ring, and even that one story with of the girl with the green ribbon around her neck - this book is definitely for you. The horror aspect of this book is SO well done, I genuinely had to put the book down and take a breath. The depiction of the ghosts, the fear of the dark, is so GRIPPING. You can feel the fear not only from Cora but those she surrounds herself with. And the crime aspect of this book? The graphic nature of the crime scenes - how each girl is murdered, it's chilling!

A huge part of this book is also the Asian American experience - especially during 2020. As someone apart of the AAPI community - the hate and discrimination in this book was all too real. I could recount my own personal experiences of that time, the fear I felt when I was in an area that was not predominantly other Asians, In addition, the Cora's experience as someone who is half white, half Chinese is something that can be relatable for a lot of people. The embarrassment of not speaking your native tongue, the life between Western and Eastern religion. Kylie Lee Baker does an amazing job, touching upon these points with grace while still pressing the importance of addressing this issues.

Thank you so much to HTP Hive, Harlequin Trade Publishing and the author for an ARC in exchange for a review.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc and an alc!

after devouring her scarlet alchemist duology, kylie lee baker is a new autobuy author for me! when i saw she was writing a horror novel, specifically about covid/the pandemic, i was a little dismayed because i am not ready to relive covid. alas, with any major world event, we will inevitably begin to see books being published of it whether we like it or not, and they are important additions to any library.

i am blown away by baker’s ability to write such a gorey mind-fuck of a psychological thriller so rooted in not just the anxiety of everyday life, but living through/after a pandemic.

her descriptions of gore were disgusting and bone-chilling, and the moments of unstable reality were fantastic — all of which get her full marks from me as a newbie horror reader

as for the narrator, i always enjoy an audiobook narrated by natalie naudus!!

as for the evernight edition — beautifully horrifying as always.

CW: COVID, Violence toward women, graphic gore

This book scared me because it’s very real most of the way through.

The narration was perfect, the voice actress was believable and compelling.

I found myself captivated and unable to stop listening and reading. I have an e-ARC as well, so I was doing both.

The elements of anti-Asian violence and how it affected Cora and colored her perceptions felt on point. Watching her slowly open up to her friends was a pleasure. All the characters were actually enjoyable to read, even the ones who weren’t intended to be liked.

While I have only a bare bones understanding of Chinese ghost lore, the way it was approached and handled was interesting without being info dumps.

Overall a very enjoyable book and highly recommended.

I enjoyed the first few chapters, especially the shock value given and the call out of hate and the issues being addressed. I love extreme horror for the gore and overarching themes. I was bummed this book is not formatted fully yet, so I was unable to read it on my ereader, and I was hoping for more gore in this book. There is a lot of focus on hair balls and the grosser aspects of a crime scene, and not so much on the other aspects I was hoping to have more of. I will still buy this one and check it out from my library once it has been fully formatted as the story itself is neat and I am intrigued.

Thank you for the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily. I received a free eARC of this book.

Cora Zeng finds herself working with two others as a crime scene cleaner, post-pandemic in NYC. Cora is haunted by the voices in her head, the germs that she has no control over outside of her home, and the death of her sister Delilah. But even more frightening is the amount of East Asian women who are turning up dead, and whose homes are the ones that Cora and her crew are being sent to clean. A pattern with the deaths starts to emerge, and a calling card of bats is being left in the women’s homes or on their bodies. With Cora being haunted by ghosts and the murder of her sister, she knows it’s all connected to the Asian women who are being murdered, but none of these murders are being reported, and now Cora could be one of the next women in danger.

When a book is promoted as Horror, Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is the one I’m looking for! Kylie Lee Baker does not shy away from anything in this book, and it all comes together in a macabre, supernatural story that is also a statement on racism, government corruption, and mental health.

Cora’s character has been through a lot, and she reacts with the fear of losing control of her environment. She is torn between two worlds, with a white mother and an Asian father, neither of the two involved in her life. Her aunts are the parental figures in her life and Cora struggles with the Christian religion of one aunt and the Asian beliefs of her other aunt. Throughout most of the book Cora lives a lonely, isolated life, but Baker delivers some great character growth by the end of the book.

The ghosts are a perfect supernatural element, and I loved Baker’s haunting descriptions of them, and the rituals that needed to be observed to send them peacefully on their way. The use of The Hungry Ghost Festival to appease the ghosts was one of my favorite parts of the book.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is definitely a difficult read, with the hate and violence inflicted on an entire people group. But it also shows moments of friendship, family, and resilience. If you love supernatural horror, true crime, and suspense, with deeper insight into humankind, then I would definitely recommend Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng.

If you’re looking for a book that will haunt your every thought, make you question your subway habits, and have you side-eyeing your coffee table, Bat Eater is your new best friend. This book had me gripped from the start with its perfect blend of psychological terror and good old-fashioned horror. The writing is as sharp as a butcher’s knife, and it carves its way into your brain.

Meet Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner who’s used to scrubbing blood and guts from murder sites. But, as she’ll soon find out, nothing’s messier than dealing with the ghosts of her past—and the very real, very hungry ones lurking in the present. If you like horror with layers—think family trauma, societal horror, and some seriously unsettling supernatural elements—Bat Eater is here to ruin your sense of comfort.

The characters are compelling, and Cora is so relatable in her denial and quiet desperation, I found myself rooting for her while also wanting to tell her to maybe listen to her aunt about the whole “prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival” thing. But hey, who am I to judge? I’d probably ignore warnings too, especially if there were mysterious bat carcasses involved.

This is a must-read for both OG horror fans and newcomers to the genre. It’s chilling, it’s thought-provoking, and it’s a wild ride that will leave you questioning, “Was that real?” long after you turn the last page. So, get your hands on it—just maybe don’t eat while you read. You’ll thank me later.

I had some reservations, as I don't normally read a horror-ish genre, but this one was absolutely spellbinding. I could not put it down. Fans of Grady Hendrix, this is your girl. The personality of the protagonist, Cora, was multi-layered and the themes of the novel multi-dimensional, covering the fear and loneliness we all experienced during the COVID pandemic, the racism inflicted upon the Asian population in the United States, and issues of family dynamics, especially from the perspective of American Chinese pressured by the elder community to be "more" Chinese. While the novel is firmly in the horror genre, it did not tweak my somtimes squeamish sensibilities. Loved it!

Honestly I think this may be one of my favourite horror reads this year. Yes it was about the pandemic and for some it may be too soon, but this was genuinely such an interesting and needed read. Yes the gore and paranormal activities adds to the book’s nuance, but at the end of the day this book was about the experience of a Asian woman who was dealing with extreme xenophobia and racism that became more prevalent during the pandemic. Some of the lines towards the end of the book genuinely haunt me, and it’s the realistic approach of what actually happened during the pandemic that makes this book even more haunting.

This is not an easy book to read or listen to. Through the lens of Cora Zeng Baker captures what is was like for Asians in 2020. She does so through the lens of a story of a serial killer murdering Asian individuals in New York City and no one caring.

Baker does not shy away from hard truths and gives her all in presenting details that turn the stomach. But in doing so she captures the atmosphere so well. Baker is a master at her craft.

The pandemic is still a bit too fresh in my mind to usually go for books about it, but this one drew me in.

The racism, the pandemic itself, the ghosts, all felt visceral and real. This was an interesting perspective, with Cora having grown up in different cultures and being not overly familiar with her Chinese heritage was a good way to explain things to the reader without sounding condescending or weird.

The ghosts, the gore, the atmosphere were all very well done. The only thing keeping me from giving this a 5/5 stars is the pacing. I did feel that it lagged a bit in the middle, but it was definitely worth pushing through.

Trigger Warning: Gory Deaths, Gory Scenes
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng takes place during the pandemic in 2020 and follows Cora Zeng who cleans up crime scenes for a living. She saw her sister get killed due to racial prejudice and is trying to survive the pandemic. But when hungry ghosts start to attach to her and a high number of deaths of Asian women starts to occur, she finds herself pulled into the mystery of what is happening.
I'm so glad I received an ARC of this book and feel very blessed to be able to read this early. I have already pre-ordered this book before I started the ARC and cannot wait to have a finished copy in my hands.
While this book is a horror novel, it's so much more than that. This is about the rampart racism that occurred during 2020 towards Asian people. It was absolutely heart wrenching and stomach churning seeing the things people said, based off real experiences by the author and online forums, about Asian people during the pandemic and how they were unjustly blamed for the pandemic. I thought the way that Kylie Lee Baker handled this topic was so well done and it really brought to light the atrocities and atrocious things that people said and did during this time.
I really actually liked the horror aspect of this and the ghosts were so interesting. Every culture has their own views of ghosts and this was a perspective I hadn't seen before. The idea of hungry ghosts and what can happen if they are not properly taken care of in their afterlife was really fascinating to read. I found myself on the edge of my seat reading this and seeing what was going to happen next.
I will say this book is gruesome in detail so if you are sensitive to that, maybe skip the more descriptive aspects of this book. However, it is book worth reading as it operates on so many different levels to talk about the Asian experience during the pandemic and also to showcase this mystery and belief system.
I also just want to shout out the end where Kylie Lee Baker mentioned that we should be fighting all types of racism and racial prejudice, not just for one community because I think that was really important to highlight. She showed this not only in her Author's Note but also throughout the novel talking about Black Lives Matter protests and actual deaths of people of color that were completely preventable and motivated by hatred.
I really loved this book and I think it's very important to pick up. I would highly, highly recommend this as it was such an amazing novel to read and I flew through it.

My god.
If you can handle Covid pandemic books.
This one.
Absolutely incredibly written.
Horrifying, gorey, nauseating an absolute must.

This was such a great blend of paranormal to actual horrific events of the pandemic that made for such an interesting book.

Narration by Natalie Naudus so obviously incredible.

Thanks to netgalley and harlequin for an eARC and alc

Thank you NetGalley and MIRA Books for providing the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Honestly, this has gotta be in my top 3 horror books I have read in my lifetime. The prose is insanely good, the feeling of dread and mystery is handled well and I found myself open mouthed in shock at many points. It is so wild to read a book half hidden under your covers in fear but man does this book make you want a blankie.


Part ghost story, part serial killer mystery, also part psychological horror at times, this book is a masterpiece. I also want to praise the character work in this one, you feel very invested in the side character's lives, relationships with each other and their mysteries even if there is a LOT more going on in Cora's perspective. She does a wonderful job bringing these people to life in a way that feels so real.

Haunting, powerful, gory and enthralling. Pick this book up immediately, I promise it is worth your time.


TW: racism, hate crimes, body horror/gore, racial slurs, pandemic setting, vomit, animal cruelty/violence, mentions of child abuse

This book was dark it was about a woman haunted by her own trauma , ghosts and a serial killer …normally stray away from pandemic themes but this book drew me in not only based on the title but the description definitely fits my genre!! The dark humor and gore was the icing on top of the horror cake!!

Now THAT’S how you write a ghost story!

This story began with a pair of sisters, Cora and Delilah, with their own complicated family dynamic, but the story soon took on a wicked twist for the darker when a complete stranger shoves Delilah into an oncoming subway train.

As Cora struggles to deal with her sister’s death, she also has the complication of navigating through racism during the COVID-19 pandemic, cleaning up crime scenes where there’s a serial killer on the loose, and also being haunted by physical and mental ghosts.

The beauty of this story is the heaviness you constantly feel while reading, the way you’re reading with the lights on because you’re creeped out, all the while not being able to stop reading because you’re trying to solve the mystery!

This story was incredible and I will be recommending it to anyone who is looking for an incredible new horror/thriller combo.

Thank you, #NetGalley and Mira, for a chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely enjoyed this story. It’s gory, and it’s very relatable due to the Covid connection . It also has some Asian racism so just check triggers please

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker is a darkly humorous, gory, and haunting horror novel that expertly blends elements of the supernatural with sharp wit and a keen eye for emotional depth. This gripping story follows Cora Zeng, a young woman who must confront her complex identity, the supernatural forces that haunt her, and the horrifying secrets tied to her family.

The novel is a wild ride, oscillating between gory moments and dark humor that provides a unique twist on the horror genre. Cora, as the protagonist, is multi-faceted—her internal struggles, coupled with the disturbing elements surrounding her, make her a compelling character. The narrative often leans into a raw and visceral tone, blending themes of personal discovery with supernatural terror, all while maintaining an irreverent and darkly funny perspective.

Baker’s writing shines in its ability to create vivid, sometimes unsettling, imagery that feels both eerie and oddly relatable. The use of humor in the face of horror is particularly striking, providing a balance that prevents the novel from becoming too bleak. Cora’s voice is sharp and engaging, and her witty, sometimes sarcastic remarks help lighten the otherwise tense atmosphere, offering moments of levity amidst the chaos.

The supernatural elements, especially the title’s reference to "Bat Eater," are both chilling and inventive. The novel crafts a world where ghosts and monstrous entities exist alongside the more mundane struggles of growing up, creating a compelling tension between the supernatural and the very human experiences Cora faces. The lore surrounding these entities is rich, adding layers of intrigue and suspense as the story unfolds.

While Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is undoubtedly a horror novel, it also has deep emotional undertones. Cora’s journey to understand herself, her family’s dark legacy, and the ghosts that haunt her is a story of resilience, growth, and acceptance. There are moments of self-reflection and vulnerability that make her journey resonate on a deeper level, even amidst all the blood and terror.

Overall, Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a highly engaging and genre-defying horror novel. Kylie Lee Baker successfully delivers a fast-paced, eerie tale filled with blood, humor, and heart. This book is perfect for fans of horror who enjoy dark humor, rich supernatural lore, and complex characters navigating their own terrifying and sometimes funny journeys of self-discovery.

Thanks to MIRA for the gifted copy!

Cora Zeng witnesses the tragedy of her sister, Delilah, being pushed in front of a subway train. The murderer flees the scene shouting "bat eater," and Cora is left reeling from both her sister's death and the other brutal murder scenes she cleans up as a crime scene cleaner in Chinatown, unsure of what's real and what's in her mind as hungry ghosts follow her.

Kylie Lee Baker does it again! While I've always appreciated the elements of horror included in her fantasy novels, BAT EATER is a reversal of her past reads, with horror being at the forefront and fantasy / the paranormal used as support. I am blown away by the way Kylie makes such impactful statements about the treatment of East Asians during the Covid-19 pandemic and the treatment of Asian women by (mostly white) men in general. It takes so much talent to make the trauma, brutality of killings, mystery or who did it, the pandemic, family dynamics, friendships, and hungry ghosts all come together cohesively under the paranormal horror umbrella. It's a work of genius. Read it -- you will also probably devour it in a day like I did.