“Sometimes Cora thinks Delilah is more of a dream than a sister, a camera flash of pretty lights in every color that you can never look at directly.”

Devastated by witnessing the murder of her half-sister Delilah, Cora must navigate the COVID-19 pandemic alone. Cora takes a job as a crime scene cleaner and discovers a common denominator between Delilah’s death and murders of other Asian woman. The streets of New York aren’t safe for Cora and neither is her apartment which she finds haunted by a vengeance-hungry ghost.

Cora’s love-hate relationship with Delilah, the isolation created by the pandemic, and Cora’s phobias fuel the tension. Baker loving builds Cora’s character and the firm foundation adds to the richness of Cora’s character arc as does her budding friendship with her fellow crime scene cleaners and the complex dynamics with her family. Cora’s aunties, each firmly planted in their own religious beliefs, try to influence her. Eccentric Auntie Zeng, with her pyromaniac and kleptomaniac tendencies, quickly became my favorite character. Unlike Auntie Lois, Auntie Zeng’s love and support isn’t conditional.

The horror of Cora’s haunting is nicely balanced with the murder mystery. Baker does a fantastic job of showing the uncertainty of the early days of the pandemic in New York and the cruelty inflicted on the Asian community through hate crimes. Baker’s beautiful writing shines a soft light on the mundane and supernatural horrors Cora experiences first hand.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Mira, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises ULC, for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kylie Lee Baker has done it again. I am incredibly stunned at how much I loved this. This was raw, real and emotional like no book i’ve read in a long time. The use of words to create the vibes and atmosphere about the horror and the gothic of the novel was superb.

also i love when feminine rage rests in the hands of marginalized women or people of color because it’s not just an every day issue that they are raging about, it’s about something that no one else would get except their community.

anyway - listen/read to the authors note. it’s so important and timeless.

This is a wild ride from start to finish. The tone is set immediately in the first chapter following Cora Zeng and her half-sister in the almost apocalyptic streets of New York City during the start of the COVID lockdowns in 2020. Tragedy strikes when a racist stranger murders Cora’s sister in front of her. This begins the downward spiral of Cora’s life amidst New York City alone. Haunted by her past, the future, germs (I feel you girl. I too have Mysophobia), her trauma, hungry spirits and a serial killer on the loose we get a deep look into the dark side of Asian hate during the pandemic (and let’s be real.. still happening sadly.) I shed many tears, my jaw dropped and I gasped more times than I can count. This is one that will be sticking with me for a long while, making sure there’s no hungry spirits lurking about.

Thank you to The Hive & NetGalley for the ARC!

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker is a visceral and unsettling dive into grief, identity, and the supernatural and real horrors plaguing our world. This is horror at its most thought-provoking and raw, combining eerie supernatural elements with the grim realities of racial violence and pandemic-era trauma.

Cora Zeng is a fascinating protagonist: a crime scene cleaner who buries her emotions in bleach and routine while grappling with the devastating loss of her sister, Delilah. Her perspective is darkly humorous, chilling, and sometimes heartbreakingly vulnerable. Her fear of germs, her fragmented grip on reality, and the appearance of bat carcasses and hungry ghosts create a suffocating tension that keeps you on edge.

The story masterfully balances the brutality of real-world violence with ghostly horror. Baker’s vivid, grotesque descriptions and sharp social commentary elevate this book from a typical ghost story to something more profound. Themes of racial scapegoating, intergenerational trauma, and cultural identity are woven seamlessly into the narrative, making it both profoundly personal and universally impactful.

The pacing can be uneven sometimes, with some sections feeling rushed while others linger a bit too long. A few plot threads remain unresolved, but in a way, that ambiguity feels fitting for a story about navigating grief and trauma.

Stephen Graham Jones and Gretchen Felker-Martin fans will appreciate the sharp prose and subversive approach to horror. Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is haunting, poignant, and wildly original—a story that will burrow under your skin and stay with you long after the gates of hell close.

This was a veritable smorgasbord of horror, social commentary, and the supernatural, all served with a side of dark humor.

Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner in New York City’s Chinatown, whose occupation involves scrubbing away the remnants of humanity’s more macabre departures. One might argue that such a profession would desensitize anyone to gore, but Cora’s real demons are far more insidious. She’s haunted by the traumatic memory of her sister Delilah’s murder—an event marked by the assailant’s parting slur: “bat eater.”

As if grappling with personal loss and societal prejudice weren’t enough, Cora’s reality becomes increasingly more disturbing and bizarre. She discovers bat carcasses at crime scenes and notices a disturbing pattern involve East Asian female victims. This eerie sequence coincides with the Hungry Ghost Festival, a time when, according to tradition, the gates of hell open, allowing spirits to roam the earth.

This book forces you to confront uncomfortable truths about societal prejudices. The way Baker portrays the unflinching racism against Asians during the pandemic was so compelling and REAL. Honestly I usually turn a shoulder with anything Pandemic/ Covid related but this was a damn good read.

The supernatural addition with the Hungry Ghost was simply phenomenal. The story is raw and visceral, with gory aspects and hauntingly beautiful imagery. It’s a thought provoking read that makes you want to reflect on the real-world implications of fear, personal trauma, and prejudice.

As a person of Chinese descent who’d lived right in the area for 6 years and having known so many East Asians who had suffered abuse or discrimination during the pandemic, I knew I had to read this as soon as I came across the title.

This novel comments on the increased violence towards Asians during the pandemic and the lack of effort in trying to solve these hate crimes, PLUS body horror, gore, the supernatural, and Chinese folklore!

Some of the rules (I was also told as a kid) of the 7th lunar month AKA Hungry Ghost Festival are:
- Don’t dress in all black clothing
- No swimming, no hiking, no picking up coins you find on the street
- Don’t turn around if someone calls your name at night (could be a ghost!)

The supernatural parts were so creepy!!! Straight up old school Asian horror movie imagery- think Sadako, Ju-On, Chinese vampires with ominous red smoke… read this over a few nights and i jumped one time when the radiator came on because i was just so wired :-D

I really really really wanted to love this because on paper this is a mix of all the genres that I adore… Unfortunately I didn’t connect to the writing style here. The pacing felt a little bit off to me. Sometimes a mood or subplot is set up but moves on abruptly, yet sometimes for something kinda uninteresting (to me) there’s a lot of telling to excruciating detail. In my opinion that made the book feel much longer than it actually is and hindered connection/ feelings towards the characters in the book. It probably doesn’t help that I found Cora an unreliable and generally kinda dull MC. It’s sad because the book quite literally started off with a bang and then never really brought that same excitement or tension back.

Coraline "Cora" Zeng lives in New York with her half-sister Delilah, who is beautiful and arty and dreams of becoming a famous model, when the pandemic begins. After witnessing Delilah is pushed in front of a subway train by a stranger who shouts "bat eater" at her, Cora becomes a crime scene cleaner and starts noticing a majority of murder victims she's cleaning off the walls all seem to be young East-Asian women.

Is Cora going off the walls and imagining being followed by creepy ghosts that remind you of the yall ma from It Follows, or is she truly being haunted? Sometimes, I wondered if she was a reliable narrator, and it's easy to make that assessment with a heroine who suffers from OCD and cleans "people's entrails for a living". While I don't typically read books set in the real world during Covid 19, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I feel like the Goodreads blurb for this one tells you a LOT about the story, maybe even too much? But at the same time, you sort of need to know what you’re getting into.

This was one of the bleakest books I’ve ever read. But it should be, because it’s a portrait of horrifying racism, specifically during the height of COVID. If you’re one of those people who roll their eyes and say, “Not a pandemic book!” then this novel is not for you.

I was immediately sucked into the story, which wasted no time at all revealing the darkness and cruelty that I was in for. It was a blend of true crime and supernatural. The main character, Cora Zheng, works as a crime scene cleaner with two friends as she simultaneously tries to process the fact that she’s seeing spirits.

Cora constantly thinks about the moment when her sister was violently murdered in front of her, and every time she revisits this memory it is still fresh, visceral, horrific. Just like the crime scenes she’s scrubbing away. There’s actually a lot more going on beyond this as well, if you can believe it! The crime scenes begin to seem as if they might be connected, and they appear to be racially motivated…

Cora is Chinese, and she experiences constant aggressive acts of Racism on the street. She’s also very conscious of germs and afraid of getting sick, so the pandemic is extra scary for her from that standpoint. Every time she leaves her house, it’s stressful to read about. On top of all of this, there’s also the ghosts that are following her around. The way that Baker described the unique spirits in the book was very creepy and frightening. There was one specific scene that absolutely shocked me in a good, scary way.

I really enjoyed reading this, even though it was a heavy and upsetting experience. The writing was very good, and the characters were well developed. Harvey got on my nerves with his constant insensitivity, but I loved Yifei. And learning about the lore behind “hungry ghosts” was really interesting. I didn’t know exactly where the plot was going to go, and I did not predict where it ended up.

One thing is bothering me, slightly: Is it really that easy to sneak into the subway tunnels when they’re closed? (Honest question. They don’t have metal doors or big gates or anything?)

I highly recommend this to anyone who likes horror and true crime, as it’s a capable mix of both. Just be aware of the depressing journey you’re about to take.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

Biggest TW: Hate speech/slurs, Racism, Graphic violence, Animal harm/death

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Wow this was so good. And by good I mean devastating, scary, horrifying and infuriating.

A complicated story of racism, hate crimes, the fear and mistrust brought by COVID and of ghost stories and how traditions and culture follow us

I was absolutely enthralled with this one. I devoured it. Kylie Lee Baker did an excellent job with the characters and story. The themes had some darkness but made the story have more depth. The characters, especially Cora, were well written, and the story was plotted so perfectly. The dark and grittiness of this was harsh but perfect for this novel. I highly recommend it. I can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you Net Galley ARC, Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA, and Kylie Lee Baker

⋆⋆⋆⋆½ — incredible painting of the depravity inflicted onto east/southeast asians during the pandemic. absolutely horrifying, but more because of the "human" brutality depicted, rather than any of the horror elements. there's so many scenes where i was shaking with rage or wanted to break down sobbing—baker doesn't shy away from portraying the depths of human evil. neither does she shy away from portraying the heights of human strength. the scene where cora and yifei confront a certain reporter is perhaps one of the most impactful scenes i have ever read.

speaking of cora, i loved her so much. her fears and anxieties, her tendency to run from things until she's pushed over the edge, her relationships with her sister and aunts, how she dealt with her pain, everything about her was so relatable to me. kylie lee baker has an immense talent for illustrating lifelike, magnetic characters that are loveable from the first moment you read their name. this isn't true of just cora, but also yifei, harvey, and auntie zeng.

truly one of the best books i have ever read, and i cannot recommend this enough.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng follows twenty-something Cora as she works cleaning scenes. When Cora and her friends notice a series of deaths where mutilated bats are left behind with the victims, the trio begins to suspect foul play and begin their own research into a potential serial killer.

While all this is happening, Cora also experiences a supernatural horror - hungry ghosts are stalking her in the night and she has to find a way to get rid of them. With supernatural entities and human killers around every corner, how are Cora and company supposed to make it out alive?

I'm not usually a fan of books that revolve around COVID, but this novel felt like a perfect balance between fiction and reality relating to the emotions and experiences of COVID without using it as a crutch - the story flows and stands on it's own.

The characters of this book were also very real. I was rooting for them the whole time and (spoiler alert) each loss felt absolutely gut wrenching. While the story started out slow it picked up momentum at the halfway mark and kept me hooked with both the ghost and the serial killer storyline to the very end.

Thank you so much harlequin trade paperbacks (@htp) for the advance copy of this book. Wow seriously just wow. The craziest first chapter i have ever read and the hand Cora is dealt is horrible, but the horrors are just the beginning. After losing her job and the trauma that happens in the first chapter (no spoilers) Cora becomes a crime scene cleaner and notices a pattern of all the places her and her friends are called to clean something horrific has happened there to women of Asian descent and bats are found. Feeling this is the work of a serial killer with hungry ghosts steering them they attempt to solve the mystery of who is the killer they refer to as Batman. This all taking place in NYC at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020. I cannot imagine what anyone of Asian decent in NYC or anywhere went through at this time nor do I want to. Reminding us humans are the worst monsters of all. 5 stars will recommend this book to everyone and while it may only be January this might be the best book of 2025.

This book is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s dark, depressing, gruesome, gory, terrifying, funny, and at moments hopeful but also realistic and fantastical all wrapped in one.

As I was reading about Cora Zeng, I couldn’t help but want to just hug her. I haven’t felt so much love for a character in so long. She’s so broken and feels like she’s been living in the shadow of her amazing sister for her entire life. And for some reason she’s fine with that.

Trying to come up with words on what this book is about is insanely difficult. This book is a personification of pandemic fears written from the Female Asian perspective set in the largest city of America during the lockdown and after.

The pandemic is something we all lived through, but to feel the pain, fear, dread, and loss from a perspective that isn’t white is absolutely haunting.

What’s hard is, I want to shove this book into every single person’s hands, but I know that won’t go over well. The book is haunting and extremely gory. I haven’t read a book that actually scared me for many, many years.

This book is brutal. It doesn’t hold back. And it’s heartbreaking and shocking. The first chapter exploded and it never stopped. I was left feeling pain and sadness.

I want Cora Zeng to have a life filled with love. I hope if she’s out there, she’s smiling and happy. I haven’t wanted that for a character in a long,long time.

Just a phenomenal book. Will definitely live on my top horror books of all time.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng follows a young Chinese American woman whose sister was brutally murdered in a subway station during April 2020 of the COVID 19 pandemic. Now, months later, Cora finds herself working as a crime scene cleanup crew but is seeing ghosts and trying to uncover a potential serial killer targeting Asian civilians of New York.

This book was unlike anything I have ever read before. There are layers, and each layer gets better and better. I liked the horror tie in with Chinese folklore of "hungry ghosts", the real life experiences of COVID 19 pandemic and the banter between three of the characters. It was brutal and gory in some parts, but also mysterious and intriguing in others.

I can't really explain the entire plot without giving away spoilers, but for a debut novel, this is such a unique twist on the genre and makes me want to read more like this.

<i>Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Publishing for allowing me to read this book in return for a honest review.</i>

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker is a paranormal horror thriller taking place during COVID-19.

The story follows Cora Zeng, a 24-year-old Chinese American living in NYC during COVID-19. Cora witnesses the horrific murder of her sister, Delilah by the hands of a white man who called them “bat eaters”. Cora, who now has to figure out how to live her life on her own, becomes a crime scene cleaner where she sees the brutal aftermath of horrific murders… of East Asian women where bat carcasses are also present.

Cora knows her mind is something no one wants to know or figure out, which is why she refuses to believe in the Hungry Ghost Festival, where the gates of hell open. Cora soon realizes that she’s being haunted by a Hungry Ghost who she believes is Delilah. Is this all in her head? Is the Hungry Ghost helping her figure out who murdered Delilah and the other woman? Can she trust her own mind?

This book is beautifully written where you can see into Cora’s mind and how cruel the world is. It starts off with a “wait..WTF” right from the first chapter and then keeps pushing the reader through to see what’s going to happen next. I loved the mystery aspect to it all. The book was such an amazing read, and I will definitely be recommending it to others. It made me stop and think of how truly terrible people can be to others they view differently. I did have several questions towards the end of the book but overall, it was still very good. I was not disappointed by the end at all.

Layers upon layers upon layers of primo reader vibes.

Part ghost story part murder mystery tangled with racism, grief, folklore, a serial killer and the pandemic. Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner who because of her traumatic past, is completely unfazed by her gruesome job. Good Gawd, was this fantastic!

For me, this is perhaps the first great horror story that is centered around the COVID pandemic. But it goes beyond just a contagion story to deal with social issues, namely anti-Asian xenophobia in a way that is tragic and terrifying. Despite the darkness and the melancholy that envelops this work, there is also a good amount of dark humor reminiscent of Grady Hendrix. Overall; 2025 for horror is off to a great start with this excellent work and Kylie Baker has shown to be a new great author in the genre who can blend together humor, social commentary, gory horror, and some truly suspenseful moments. If there was one letdown, the reveal of the perpetrator of the murders could have had a bit more suspense involved with personal danger to the main protagonist, but it is a small critique for an otherwise fantastic book.

This book was a wonderful blend of horror and social commentary. I loved the story line and really cared for Cora. This is the third book I’ve read by Kylie Lee Baker and the writing was just as witty and fast paced her other novels. I would definitely recommend this book to the others, especially those wanting to diversify their reading.

What a blend of horror and mystery that tackles racism through folklore, religion, and tradition.

One thing’s for certain, this book that gotten me to think about how there are too many whom we appreciate and know we don’t appreciate enough, and when we finally realize this fact, or is able to bring ourselves to act on it, it might already be too late.