“Do not let your empathy stop at the borders of your own community.”
Thank you to the author and publisher for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review:
I don’t even know where to begin with this one. I absolutely loved this book. It was dark but when Cora decided to stand up and fight back, I was right there with her. It feels too relevant in today’s climate. Asian immigrants losing their lives and being forgotten because they were considered lesser than. It brought back the feelings I felt during Covid and watching the blatant hate and violence towards the Asian community. And it’s a stark reminder that our empathy should not stop at the borders of our own communities. A must read if there ever was one!

Synopsis :
Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. But none of that seems so terrible when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister, Delilah, being pushed in front of a train.
Before fleeing the scene, the murderer shouted two words: bat eater.
So the bloody messes don’t really bother Cora—she’s more bothered by the germs on the subway railing, the bare hands of a stranger, the hidden viruses in every corner, and the bite marks on her coffee table. Of course, ever since Delilah was killed in front of her, Cora can’t be sure what's real and what’s in her head.
She pushes away all feelings and ignores the advice of her aunt to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open. But she can't ignore the dread in her stomach as she keeps finding bat carcasses at crime scenes, or the scary fact that all her recent cleanups have been the bodies of East Asian women.
As Cora will soon learn, you can’t just ignore hungry ghosts.

I was a big fan of Kyle Lee Baker's writing after reading her other books: The Keeper of Night and The Empress of Time. Both having a darker take on fantasy. So I knew this was going to be just as good and darker considering the genre is: Horror!

I haven't read a book like this one before. It was both so relatable and not all at the same time. As an Asian-American, I thought it was fascinating to read a book about the pandemic where many of us were ridiculed and faced challenges just because of our ethnicity. Just like Cora, I have a sister and have practiced some of the rituals her aunts have told her. Unlike Cora, I don't have PTSD or a job that requires me to clean up crime scenes.

There was an amazing balance between learning about Cora, her mental health, learning more about her culture and the struggles/reality of what it was like being asian during the pandemic. Definitely recommend this one.

Thank you NetGalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA for this title's ARC.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me to read and receive this ARC for an honest review!

Truly, this story did not go in any direction that I had expected but I like to go in blind to most books so maybe that is a part of it too. I must throw out there right off the bat, this does take place during the Covid-19 pandemic and it does deal with (important) heavy topics and gets pretty dark and real at times. Be kind to yourself going into this story.

I really loved this. The writing was so poetic, So many hard hitting quotes and just beautiful writing. Being in the main character's head, Cora, truly did at times make me paranoid (and honestly depressed). There was always this heavy atmosphere that fit well with the setting and when things started to feel too heavy I felt that Coras coworkers made that perfect relief to help brighten the mood. I did really love their characters. I also deeply love all the topics talked about and explored in here (like discrimination, which I feel we’re seeing again now sadly). Ones that should be talked about more. This book, being as spoiler free as possible, was just everything I was looking for and more, and because I went in so blind and with low expectations, I was just beyond impressed.

It had an amazing blend of feeling so real, something that could happen in real life while including the more “fantasy” elements. The ending. Just wow. This one will for sure be living with me. For a long time.

I recommend but please check trigger warnings and be kind with yourself while reading this one.

Set during the pandemic, Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng immediately took me back to the paranoia of those times, and I know for sure I wouldn’t have read this back then. But now? I have to say, Kylie Lee Baker masterfully blends horror, dark humor, paranormal mystery, serial killings, and cultural mythology into a story that feels both eerie and deeply personal. Following Cora, a crime scene cleaner in NYC’s Chinatown, the book unravels a chilling mystery of murdered East Asian women, bat carcasses, and ghosts—both literal and figurative. The atmosphere is haunting, the social commentary hits hard, and the horror elements? It’s like I’m listening to an Asian horror movie, which I love! I’m also a big fan of the hungry ghosts and would binge on them even if I couldn’t understand when I was a kid. If you love unsettling, thought-provoking horror with a side of existential dread, this one delivers.

Thank you netgalley for the Advanced listener and reader’s copy! 💙

Bat Eater and other names for Cora Zeng takes a reader on a journey back to very recent times, the Covid -19 Pandemic in NYC. It's an interesting perspective to start with as most readers did experience the pandemic, but not all were in NYC, where it was very impactful.

One reason I really wanted to read this was that it came recommended by two champions of horror, Paul Tremblay and Grady Hendrix. It was advertised as horror and I think it lives up to that, but also has a big chunk of social commentary and for some readers, this may still not me the time for "Pandemic literature" which, make no mistake, this definitely is.
We meet our main character, Cora, as she is losing her sister, Delilah in NYC. Adrift, Cora becomes a crime scene cleaner where she's exposed to all sorts of things, while she deals with the grief and loss of Delilah. Soon enough, her life becomes haunted by hungry ghosts, they most assuredly aren't in her mind only because what would cause a huge bit our of her coffee table? What will she do? Should she take the advice of her Aunt or push all of that away. one thing is for certain, it's near impossible to ignore a hungry ghost.

This book will find fans in readers who have likes Paul Tremblay, CJ Leede, and Steven Graham Jones. This is also an excellent book for readers looking to reflect on the height of the Covid 19 pandemic and it's widespread effects. It will be a fantastic choice for book clubs as there are SO MANY opportunities for discussion within. It's well written, and I found it both engaging and easy to read It is due to come out in April of 2025 and with that wild cover, this is one you might want to pre-order this gem!

I'd like to thank Kylie Lee Baker's team/the publisher for approving me for this ARC. I knew as soon as I heard about this book that I needed to read it and it ended up delivering in every way I expected it to while also going above and beyond.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a story that takes place during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and delves into the increased sinophobia and hatred being inflicted onto East Asians as a result of fear and ignorance.

The story has a horrifying start, with Cora witnessing the brutal murder of her sister, which she quickly recognizes as a hate crime when the killer whispers "bat eater" before shoving her sister in front of a moving train. With such a strong, startling beginning to the novel, you would think that incident would be difficult to follow. However, with Baker's writing and her expert depiction of grief, trauma, and fear, the suspense and tension only continue to rise as the story progresses and as anxieties over the unknown continue to haunt our main character.

Throughout the story, Cora grapples with grief while facing an imminent threat reminiscent of what happened to her sister in the subway station. As the lines between reality and the spiritual world are blurred, Cora embarks on a journey to discover the truth about the mysterious string of murders across New York City and get justice for her sister and the other young women who had been wrongfully murdered.

Bat Eater prompts readers to think about the implications of widespread misinformation that feeds into uncontrollable fear and the implications of scapegoating. This was a heart-wrenching read that burrows deeply under the skin and refuses to budge, no matter how vigorously you scrub your hands or bleach the surfaces of your home.

Kylie Lee Baker, author of The Keeper of Night and The Scarlet Alchemist duologies, steps outside her comfort zone with her new novel. Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a gory horror novel for adults.
During the COVID pandemic, Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, working under the radar in New York’s Chinatown. For her, the bodies and gore are nothing compared to what happened in her own life. While she and her sister were waiting for the subway, a man screamed at them “bat eater” and pushed her sister in front of the train. From that point on, Cora has no idea how to move forward with life.
Raised as an American, she laughs at the old ways of her Asian aunt but also blows off the idea of the god of her Christian aunt. There is no god; there is only death. The death she cleans up every day. But one day she begins to see death following her around. Her sister’s ghost is hungry because Cora didn’t follow the rituals her aunt had begged her to follow. What did her sister want? To help or to haunt Cora? And can Cora be sure that the ghost isn’t just something in her head?
This novel is a hard departure from Baker’s typical books. Her last four novels have been YA fantasy books deviling into Asian folklore and magic. This novel is straight-up modern-day horror but does bring her Eastern culture with it. But this book is just as good just in a different way. Baker has always had a sense of how to use tension and that talent especially pays off in the horror genre. The suspense has the reader on the edge of their seat with huge payoffs. The scares are real but at the same time there is a story that needs to be told, a story that only Cora is equipped to tell.
And while there is supernatural horror, the worst part to me is the real horror that is added to the book. During COVID, the NYPD had its first murder as a hate crime since 2017 when Yao Pan Ma died from an earlier assault. According to the FBI, hate crimes against Asians rose 76% in 2020. The Asian American-Pacific Islander Equity Alliance collected reports of 10,370 “hate incidents” from March 2020 through September 2021 which included verbal harassment, refusal of service at a business, and online abuse, as well as assaults and property damage. This was more than 11 times the previous average. This background gives the book another layer. While the particulars included in the book are fictional as far (as I know), it does not make the horror that the Asian American population went through any less true. I hope others reading it have a better understanding of that period. Having real horror under supernatural horror makes the book even scarier.
There is an issue that drags the book down. Baker starts to play with the idea of mental illness versus ghosts. And while I can understand that is absolutely something that a modern person would go through, there is a throwaway line that doesn’t carry enough weight. This line concerns treatment of something in Cora’s past and it’s a severe treatment. But after making the statement, it’s just left behind. And you can’t do that. You can’t drop a bomb and then ignore it as it explodes. This is the only reason this book isn’t a five-star book. The reader needs to know about that bomb. Otherwise, this is a great horror novel.
Baker steps out of her usual genre and it pays off. Bat Eater and Other Namer for Cora Zeng is scary, full of tension, and far too real. I truly love seeing Baker grow as an author.

This was... Wild. Beyond wild. I don't know much of anything about Chinese culture/lore, but I really enjoyed how that was mixed into the horror aspect of this novel.
This book was multi-layered horror. The way that Chinese, and then anyone who "looked" Chinese, was treated during the pandemic was absolutely horrifying and this book didn't shy away from it at all.
My minor annoyances was at times with the main character. She was just so passive about everything. Acting like she couldn't ever make a single choice for herself. She does what her sister wants, then what her aunts want, then what her friends want. It gets really tideous.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a claustrophobic, haunting, gory, horror novel. This book explores anti-Asian hate and hate crimes exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic using both crimes in NYC and the traditions of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

Cora is a character dealing with her own anxiety, obsessions, and compulsions related to cleanliness, trying to grieve her sister, managing complicated family relationships due to her multicultural background, and working her job as a crime scene cleaner.

While the book is heavy both in theme and content, there are some light moments and the book sprinkles in moments of humor well. This book is squarely horrific, both with the imagery of the ghosts and killings, but also the reflection on racism and isolation. The inclusion of the lighter moments gives some reprieve from the dread of the story, without completely taking you out of the plot.

I found the plot really interesting. However, it also has a distinct three act structure where the plot specifically shifts. It's a little jarring, but Cora's internal musings do manage to keep the story moving along without feeling complete disjointed.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng follows Cora who cleans up crime scenes. After a tragedy occurs, Cora is haunted by ghosts while trying to solve the mystery of what happened.

What a great book. I really enjoyed Cora has a character and found the side characters to be very interesting. This book hits the ground running which makes it easy to get into. I do think there were a few parts where the pacing felt a little slow.

I loved the different commentary in this book. A lot of this book is about Covid so if that is something that bothers you, be aware of that going in. There were a lot of instances of racism against the Asian characters and some of it was so subtle. I think it was super well done because you can feel how tense it is.

I think this is going to be one of those books that everyone will be picking up this year. I will definitely be recommending it!

What a thrilling, horrifying, evocative journey! The first chapter starts off with Cora and her sister Delilah conversing and then BAM. It captures the abruptness of tragedy so well. It sets the tone for the rest of the book, filled with the terror of living in a city where racism and hate crimes are rampant but covered up.

The terror slowly creeps up on you as the horror elements start to emerge. I was shocked. I was in disbelief. But it’s the hateful people that are the true terrors of the story. And I was enraged. This is a horror novel that touches on so many important topics. The entitlement of white men and then anger when they’re refused, turning to vile and violent behaviors. The sexualization of Asian women. The micro aggressions. The killing of Asian women that doesn’t get the same attention as white women.

As someone who tries not to read about the pandemic, I picked this up because of its unique take and highly recommend it. As an immigrant, I recommend it even more. As the author states in her note at the end, ‘do not let your empathy stop at the borders of your own community.’ Now more than ever this is important.

Horror gore ghost story during the pandemic? Sign me up! This one might not be for everyone and a little too gorey but I thought it was great! Thank you so much Netgalley for this advanced read!

3.5 stars

The first chapters of this book really grabbed my attention. Unfortunately, the narrative took a turn and tended to drag quite a bit. Still this is an excellent social commentary and a very scary horror novel. The important topic of anti-Asian sentiment during and after Covid is very well represented here.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I did DNF this at 20%. Unfortunately this just isn't my type of horror. It's very gruesome and bloody. I also wasn't a fan of the religious aspect of it, nor the fact that it's set during COVID and didn't have that listed anywhere.

Overall I think a ton of people will love this book, but it's not my type of horror.

This book was very unexpected and thought provoking. I went into without really knowing much, but it ended up hitting on so many important topics while captivating me in the horror aspects of it. This is the first book I have read that takes place during covid and to read about the Asian American experience from this point of view was incredibly impactful. Baker writes a gripping novel ripe with hungry ghosts, terrible murders, and an important perspective. Cora was the perfect view to see this story through, and I will not soon recover from— the first chapter, but also the entire novel.

****I received both the ebook and audio for this ARC and have submitted the same review for both. I'll add here that the ebook did have several strange formatting issues that I assume will be fixed before publication. (Random spacing between letters in a word, additional spacing between paragraphs)

This book starts off right away with a punch to the gut and it doesn't slow down from there. From the first chapter, my attention was held and I wanted to speed read through this to see how dark it was going to get. It did have it's gruesome moments that are expected with horror, but I find the quieter moments to be much more horrific in any horror novel.

I remember reading and hearing about all of the Asian hate during Covid and being completely horrified by it then. Kylie Lee Baker takes those moments and makes us face it all over again without holding back. I kept thinking to my, Did she pull this from real life? (And I know at least some of it was.) That's the truly scary part of this book. People did terrible, racist things in real life and didn't face consequences and caused people to live in fear when we were all already a little scared. This is what scares me in horror novels. It's not the monsters and supernatural elements--it's the human reactions to the situations they're put in because those things could happen in real life. This is what made Bat Eater such a success to me.

That said, I was taken by surprise with the ghosts. I thought at first they were hallucinations, though I do like the cultural aspect in the involvement of the ghosts. The way I read the description to the book, I didn't anticipate a supernatural element (and didn't see appropriate tags on Goodreads), but that could be on me. When I went back, I saw the mention of hungry ghosts. I do think this book is plenty terrifying without the supernatural element, but I do love that this aspect allowed us to learn more about the culture and Cora's relationship with it.

I felt like conclusion involving the killer and what Cora did happened a little fast. Blink and you miss it kind of fast for what happened to him. I do like and approve of the character development we got from Cora by the end. It was nice to see her come into her own and stop taking everyone's shit.

5⭐️

I've been a little leery about reading stories that focus on COVID and I was hesitant on reading this one. I'm so glad I pushed past that, though! This book really focused on how bleak things were during the height of 202 and how on edge everyone was. This book also highlighted how Chinese people suffered from higher rates of racism and hate crimes during that time.

This was a perfect mash up of a gory, gruesome horror story, a ghost story, a who-done-it mystery, and a social commentary on racism in the US. I loved the use of the bats as the glue that tied all of the deaths together when everything else was so different between each person. The ghost trying to help solve the case added to the tension and the fact that there were enough gruesome murders and mutilated bodies that Cora wasn't able to guess who the ghost actually was was a nice touch.

I also loved how this showed how resilient someone can be when they have to be. Cora has spent almost her entire life doing whatever her half-sister Delilah said. Cora hated making her own decisions and would do what she was told to avoid confrontation. Cora finding the job as a crime scene cleaner that fits to her strengths and compulsions (I don't think it's ever specifically says, but she shows the signs of OCD) was a great first step in making something of her own life after Delilah's death. Yifei and Harvey pulling Cora out of her shell and forming their own little found family was the perfect gang to pull for in this crazy story.

Thank you Netgalley, MIRA and Harlequin Audio for providing this ARC to me!

This book was spectacular! It had the perfect amount of horror, lore, and gore. Also, one of the few COVID-themed books I truly enjoyed. 10/10, would recommend! Great premise, expertly written, and a completely unique story for me. Kept me reading!

Horror • Mystery • Supernatural • Folklore
Expected Publication • 29 April 2025

Thank you @_mira_books_ for the free e-book.

·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ This will be in contention for top Horror of 2025 · ←˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀

From the opening chapter, you can’t look away. A book that never pulls its punches, provides gripping social commentary, and blends Chinese lore and superstition against a backdrop of stereotypes and violence toward Asian Americans during the so-called “China virus”.

Cora Zeng is unemployed and needs rent money so she becomes a CSI-style crime scene cleaner. It’s one of the few things that she can stomach, ironically, as it’s impersonal and she can hide behind her mask and hazmat suit. As she and her crew respond to calls, a pattern emerges — though the deaths take different forms, the killer has a calling card involving bat entrails and body parts.

Cora is not OK but she’s getting by. She suffers from a few things, predominantly fear and PTSD following an assault and murder she witnesses and also some form of germaphobia/OCD. She’s also either losing her mind or food/drink is going missing from her apartment [where she lives alone]. Or it could be a restless spirit who hasn’t moved on to the afterlife, if you believe her Aunty Z, who is an expert on hungry ghosts.

I usually shy away from books relating to COVID-19 but this one is different. It’s not just about “what we all went through” “together”. This will punch you in the gut, make you laugh, terrify, and make you think hard about racism and domestic terrorism in our country.

TW: Murder, Gore, Misogyny, Assault, Racism, Racial Slurs

Thank you for the advanced e-book copy..
I think I would list this book as a supernatural horror novel. Though I’m not interested in reading about the pandemic since I’ve already lived that and don’t want to relive it. However, I did enjoy this book. It covers the hatred and racism as an aftermath of Covid. This is probably one of the most gory,,stomach turning book I’ve read.