Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

Set during the pandemic this novel follows Cora Zeng after she witnesses her sister’s death. A short time after she is working as a crime scene cleaner. This is set against the commentary of what those of Chinese descent dealt with during this time and often these are the victims that Cora and her coworkers are cleaning up after. Meanwhile dealing with her job, hate crimes and the pandemic, Cora is also being followed by a hungry ghost.

This is a thrill ride of a book with seriously scary moments right out of horror films like The Ring, The Grudge or Shutter. The ghosts are just as much the element of horror in this book as how those of Asian descent were treated. This book focuses on those who are of Chinese descent but those of us who lived through the pandemic know that that hate ran rampant through out so many communities. There are lots of twists and turns in this book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I loved the mix of Chinese lore and even a little humor thrown to make this such an engaging read.

I listened to this one as an advanced audio copy of this book, (though i also have this one as a special edition from the January Evernight box) and the narrator is perfect. It was so well done and I enjoyed the production very much. I will admit I don’t usually listen to the author’s note but this one had me nearly in tears thinking about how the world is now and how much has happened since the pandemic. Just the hopefulness we had that everything would return to normal in two weeks to the state of the world now.

This is a horror story and a heavy read but worth every moment. I found it hard to put down and I highly recommend this read.

4.5 stars.

According to a Pew Research Center 2022-2023 survey, since the pandemic started, one-third of Asian American adults personally know another Asian in the US who was harassed or assaulted because of their race. According to the FBI, anti-Asian hate crime incidents increased from 279 incidents in 2020 to 746 incidents in 2021.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng had a really slow start, but I knew that my close bookish friends loved it, particularly for its depiction of racism, so I was determined to pull through and see what the hype was about.

I'm glad I did because this was such a great insight into the Asian American experience during the pandemic, particularly with East Asians and Southeast Asians. Even though this was a fiction novel, Cora's experiences with racism felt so real, especially if you were caught up on news stories about anti-Asian hate crimes in the US. Or if you've personally experienced an anti-Asian hate crime, or know someone who did.

There are specific scenes and situations in the book that dealt head on with anti-Asian racism, and reading them gave me such a visceral reaction that I preferred reading the highly detailed descriptions of the various ghosts that haunt Cora and their ghastly violence instead. Those scenes ended up being my favorite parts anyway. Asian ghosts will always remind me of my upbringing in Southeast Asia, so this book became a little horror-filled trip down memory lane.

This would've been a perfect five star read for me if the first third wasn't so slow. I was actually starting to get bored because nothing was happening. I think the setup could've been shorter and the supernatural/horror elements could've been introduced earlier. This story is a bit of a slow burn imo, but the pace does pick up when more supernatural/horror elements get introduced.

Natalie Naudus's narration will always be my favorite. And the way she narrated the ending? Absolute perfection. 100/10 stars.

Thank you to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for this arc.

This audiobook and book were absolutely delightful. The character casting was PERFECT for Cora Zeng, and I think the narrator conveyed the heavy themes in this book with the wit and sharpness that Kylie Lee Baker intended. I have already been recommending this book to everyone I know in audio format and I know for a fact a few friends have preordered it!

I appreciated the commentary on both anti-Asian hate, Sinophobia, and the general state of capitalism and how it exacerbated racial biases. This book is simply a masterpiece and I can’t wait to get Kylie Lee Baker to sign my hard copy!

(2.75 stars)
First I need to admit that this is not my typical genre; this book was definitely outside my comfort zone. But I was interested to give it a try based on the publisher’s blurb: Asian-heritage women being attacked and murdered in New York City during the early days of the COVID pandemic.

It starts off strong with the scene at the subway station, but gradually lost my interest/grossed me out until I nearly DNF’d it. I’m glad that I decided to keep going with it because the later chapters were pretty strong.

Bat Eater And Other Names For Cora Zeng (great title!) is not for the faint of heart. There are multiple gory deaths and ghostly encounters, as well as icky details from crime scene cleanups, which is how Cora supports herself. Along the way, it highlights anti-Asian racism/hate, which rose to a crescendo during COVID. It also taught me about the tradition of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

I bounced between reading and listening to the audio version. Natalie Naudus did a beautiful job with the narration.

Thank you to MIRA and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Wow.
I generally avoid any books that deal with covid but this one needs to be read. The story within this book needs to be heard. I still can’t believe how much hate this world has to offer. Will it ever end? I have no idea, but I’m so glad people are telling their stories and opening our eyes to it. Please read this heartbreaking book.

The audiobook is fantastic. The emotions the narrator puts into the characters is so fitting.
4/5 Stars

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an audiobook of this novel!
I truly never would've finished without it.
The audiobook is great, btw. Don't let anything I'm about to say keep you from it if you so desire.
Okay, so let me be completely honest...
I've already written one too long 2 star review this week and I'm tired, so I'm going to keep this as brief as I can. I think I can boil my laundry list of issues with this book down to one thing:
Every single thing in this book felt convenient to me. Convenience leads to predictability. Predictability pisses me off. The End. There's no need for me to tear it down further.
On a more positive note....the only one I seem to have... The gore is pretty descriptive. I could picture everything so vividly, so if you're looking for that, here you go.

Okay, first of all—wow. I'm not sure I've ever read a horror novel that managed to wreck me emotionally and also have me side-eyeing every shadow in my house at the same time. This book is absolutely terrifying, but it's also deeply moving, heartbreaking, angry in all the right ways, and so, so layered. It's not just a ghost story (though it's a damn good one)—it's a story about grief, identity, trauma, and what it means to carry both cultural history and personal loss in a world that keeps trying to erase or blame you for its troubles.
 
Let me start by saying this: I generally avoid COVID books and TV shows. The pandemic still feels too fresh, and I'm not ready to relive it. But in this case, it's not a backdrop or a gimmick. It's integral to the story. The racism and violence that surged during that time—especially toward East Asian communities—drives much of what Cora is experiencing, and it's what gives the book its name. "Bat eater," if you recall the ignorant slurs hurled at people during the early pandemic, hits hard here. It's the last thing Cora hears the man who pushed her sister to her death say, and it becomes an echo that haunts her throughout the book.
 
Cora is a character who you instantly root for. She's a crime scene cleaner—which, if you're already picturing the gore, yes, it's as gnarly as it sounds. But she's also carrying this impossible weight: the unresolved murder of her sister Delilah, the absence of justice, and the constant fear that she might be next—mainly because the crime scenes she cleans are after the deaths of Asian women. She's shut down, emotionally numb, and surrounded by death, both professionally and personally. But what I love about her is that she's never portrayed as weak or pitiful. She's angry. She's scared. She's determined. She's real.
 
The supporting cast? Also fantastic. I fell a little in love with her coworkers Yifei and Harvey—two fellow crime scene cleaners who bring a kind of dark humor and unexpected warmth to the story. And Auntie Zeng! She was such a vibrant, grounding presence. Her efforts to bring Cora into the Hungry Ghost Festival traditions added a layer of cultural depth that I really appreciated. The novel doesn't just use Hungry Ghost Month as a spooky setting—it teaches you about it. There's such richness in the way Baker incorporates Chinese traditions, mythology, and beliefs about the dead, and it's all done respectfully and with nuance.
 
Now let's talk horror. The scares in this book? Legit. Like, Ju-On (The Grudge) levels of creeping dread. There's a slack-jawed shadow that keeps showing up around Cora, and it honestly had me reading with all the lights on. The horror isn't just jump scares, though—it's psychological. It's personal. The ghosts don't just haunt the characters; they represent what's been left unsaid, undone, unresolved. There's also this slow-building feeling that something is targeting Cora specifically—and Baker keeps that tension taut throughout.
 
What pushed this to a full five-star read for me, though, was how emotionally invested I was. That first scene with Delilah? Absolutely gutted me. And the grief that pulses through the rest of the novel never lets up. Cora's heartbreak is palpable, and Baker doesn't let you look away from it. But—here's the thing—it's not hopeless. There are moments of connection, moments of healing, even if they're fragile and fleeting.
 
This is one of those books I need to see as a movie. But not a glossy, Hollywoodified version. I want the gritty, atmospheric, tense, and gloomy vibe that comes from Korean and Japanese horror. Think dim lighting, claustrophobic apartments, shadows that move wrong, and tension you can't shake. It would seriously work so well as a film.
 
I did a tandem read (physical and audiobook), and the narrator - Natalie Naudus - does a fantastic job of voicing the characters and perfectly hits all of the beats. If you're more into audiobooks, I definitely recommend this one.
 
Final verdict? If you're looking for a horror novel that will do more than just scare you—one that will make you feel something and think deeply about the cultural weight of fear and grief—this is an absolute must-read. It's raw, it's bold, it's beautifully written, and it's unforgettable. It's one I will definitely come back to.

Cora Zeng has an interesting job that is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. For someone who is a chronic germaphobe, being a crime scene cleaner is one of the last things one would think is her job. Blood doesn't bother her ever since she saw the gruesome death of a close relative who was murdered right before her eyes, and the killer was never caught. This story is set during the height of the pandemic, so people's faces are covered, making it difficult to accurately describe someone if you can't see their face, and the police don't seem to care. One thing about the man she will never forget is what he called them before shoving her loved one to their death. "Bat-eater."

Cora lives a solitary life, other than her coworkers forcing their company upon her, otherwise, she is alone with her manic cleansing because she has a fear of catching the virus. The one that is causing some angry white people to look down upon and attack anyone who looks Asian. They don't care if you grew up in America; they spit at you, call you a bat-eater, and tell you to go back to your deceased country because all Asians are to blame for the virus. Since the death of her relative, more and more unexplained, gruesome killings are happening in Chinatown, specifically of women, and something might be targeting Cora herself, and it's not human.

I'm having a difficult time deciding on what to rate this book. I think it had an important message, a paranormal presentation, and some horror and thriller aspects, which I enjoy, but it was slow at the start and took a bit of building the story to get into. I try to give my best effort for any ARC I decide to read to fairly rate it, and especially try to avoid a DNF if it is slower than what I typically read. Parts of this were a flashback to a time when we all were in the same boat. Trapped at home, supplies limited, people are angry, looking for answers, and pointing fingers. Our lives were turned upside down. This story had some realness to it, but also had a paranormal aspect to shake up the scary factor because a serial killer on the loose isn't enough.

My takeaway after reading this, most importantly, is that this story focused on the discrimination against Chinese Americans over the tragic impact of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak and how badly they were treated, which in my mind was horrific. Unless you are of Asian descent, though, what happened to them during this time we cannot completely understand, and this book sheds some light on it. I am truly disappointed in the human race for all of that. Also, the paranoia of someone who is so frightened to become ill that they go to the extreme to stay away from people when they can and treat their body and where they live like a hospital surgical room. OCD to the extreme comes to mind, describing the FMC.

In this day and age, we should not be treating other human beings in such a way, but apparently, time doesn't erase prejudice and hate crimes against innocent people. Anti-Asian hate crime was highlighted, but that isn't the only hate crimes that still happen daily in the US and around the world. We can only hope that this behavior will end sooner rather than later.

Thank you for the ALC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

5/5 Stars

Thank you NetGalley & Harlequin Audio for providing an advanced listener copy for me. I feel honored to have been able to consume this book before its publication date. Also thank you Kylie for writing this book.

I went into this book pretty much blind. I saw the author advertise her book on tik tok, saw the eye catching cover, and read the intriguing title. I knew this was a horror book & I absolutely love horror media. The first chapter to this pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the story. No one is safe. Whether that be from Covid itself or from racist white men. No one is safe.

This book is for the girls who never felt right, girls who sulk in their siblings shadow, the girls who have such warped minds, and the girls who have been exposed to the disgusting nature of men. This book became a murder mystery but it is so much more than that. It so much more than a book about "who did it," and really became a story about discovering yourself, maneuvering grief, and finding peace within the chaos that is ourselves. Covid is such a pivotal part of our lives now; we have lived through it. Cora's experience brought a different perspective to those trying times & unfortunately her story isn't unique. I remember the news reports about the hate crimes & how it was just swept under the rug.

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE how the author portrayed contamination OCD with Cora's character. The characters as a whole I felt like were written well. In most 300ish pages of horror/thriller novels you often are there for the story not really the characters. I was here for Cora and her friends.

I will be reading more work by Kylie Lee Baker.

The way I DEVOURED this one!

In short, Bat Eater is a story of horror, humor, and social commentary on Asian American racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is loss and grief alongside violence and gore. There is mental health/anxiety rep and found family. And there are ghosts seemingly at every turn 😂 (poor Cora).

This was so well written. I was immediately drawn in and audibly gasped by the end of CHAPTER ONE. If this at all sounds like something you’d enjoy, I absolutely recommend picking it up.

I listened to the audiobook and I absolutely loved the narrator and the emotion she put into telling the story!

Thank you so much to The Hive, HTP, and Harlequin Audio for an ARC/ALC in exchange for my honest review!

💉 Pandemic
🦇 Racism
🧼 Crime Scene Cleaner
👻 Spooky
❤️‍🩹 Loss
🗡 Murder Mystery

Ugh the racism that came from the pandemic is so upsetting. I hate how ignorant people act/acted.

This book was so interesting. I love the FMC's job. I feel terrible for her. The murder mystery was great. The humor was fun. The whole story was well done.

"Apparently, people do strange things when they're scared of dying. And one of them is hoarding toilet paper." 🧻

Super grateful to the author, Harlequin Audio & NetGalley for letting me listen to & review this! 💜

I also own the GORGEOUS Illumicrate exclusive edition of this book. Highly recommend!

Wow. 4.5 rounded up to 5

Bat Eater follows a Chinese American woman during the peak of the covid pandemic when Asian American's were being targeted for "causing" the pandemic. Cora is dealing with prejudices, the death of her sister, and literal ghosts. That's about as much info I think you should know before going into it. It is visceral, tragic, gory, and horrifying. I highly recommend this for horror fans.

I enjoyed the author's YA fantasy duology the Keeper of Night. Bat Eater is completely different adult horror showing that Kylie Lee Baker can write well in any genre she picks.

This story takes place during the COVID pandemic in New York, Cora is traumatized by the death of her sister Delilah, she is trying to survive after the tragic event. In the aftermath Cora becomes a crime scene cleaner, there she notices a pattern of a serial killer killing Asian women and leaving behind bats.


I enjoyed the supernatural horror elements but it started to read more like YA and in the middle it started to drag for me. Things started picking up at the end. I do recommend this novel it just didn't work for me personally.


Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook!

4.5/5 stars

This book was just... wow. I'm not sure what all I can say really. I went into Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng only knowing that it was a horror novel. I had no idea the ride I was in for.
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The Covid pandemic was a dark time for us as a society, and I tend to avoid books that are set during it; however, Bat Eater became the exception. The way that Kylie Lee Baker uses the pandemic as a lens to explore just how quickly fear can turn into bigotry and hate was truly a truly eye-opening experience. The bigotry was bad enough in the small towns in my area, I can't imagine how much worse it was in big cities.
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Bat Eater isn't just a seamless commentary on racism, the fetishization of Asian women, and racially-motivated hate crimes though. It's also a gruesome, blood-soaked horror/thriller that takes you on a wild ride right from page one. After witnessing the murder of her sister, Cora Zeng works as part of a clean-up crew for the multitude of Asian-American women who are being murdered by a serial killer that's leaving mutilated bats at the scene of the crimes. But that's not all. KLB brings in the paranormal to this book, steeped in Chinese cultural lore. Cora -not believing in the warnings of her aunt- doesn't pay any attention to offering food or burning paper for the spirit of her sister. That is until her sister's ghost starts haunting her.
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Bat Eater has so many layers to it, and KLB did such an amazing job at balancing those layers. Cora's battles extends beyond cleaning up viscera and dealing with hungry ghosts; she grapples with trauma from witnessing her sister's murder, grief, her mental health, and abandonment issues from her absent parents. Despite these dark themes though, there was also a good amount of witty banter and found family that added a layer of warmth and dark humor (courtesy of her coworkers).
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This is perhaps one of the best books I've read so far this year, and the audiobook version is absolutely phenomenal. Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for giving me an audiobook copy in exchange for my honest review. I'll be thinking of this one for a while.

A supernatural horror story and a horror story of the atrocities of human nature. Kylie Lee Baker takes us back to the paranoia and the bleak setting of covid 2020 in a NYC subway station looking for toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic. It is eerily too familar for a reader who has experienced and lived through these events, but it screams to be remembered. Kylie's prose is hauntingly poetic and impactful that as a reader, we feel all the ebbs and flow of fear and paranoia. She doesn't hold back and this story is grim and brutal, but it is a necessary story. Kylie Lee Baker amplifies Asian american voices and trauma from the extreme acts of racism experienced in the world. It's heartbreaking the extent of hate that is spewed. I hope this book serves as way to teach people empathy.

The audio book was impeccable! I was completely immersed and felt all the tension and fear of this important horror story that begs to be told!

Bat Eater and other Names for Cora Zeng is a wild ride of a read. It's got the pacing and lyrical writing of a sad-girl literary horror" mixed with the atmospheric dread and uncertainty of 2020/2021 covid era. Cora Zeng is a relatable, albeit angsty main character and her struggles, both with OCD and her own identity came through clearly on the page.
There were places where the storytelling elements of the narrative felt rushed in service to giving the plot legs, but the gore and tension did the heavy lifting the entire way.
Bat Eater has heavy themes of racism against Asian-Americans and doesn't flinch. One of my favorite lines was "You can't love someone who isn't a real person to you." and if that doesn't perfectly sum up the themes of the story right along with the male loneliness epidemic...

If you like angsty horror. Sad-girl litfic. lots of brains and guts. Give Bat Eater and other Names for Cora Zeng a try.

Rating: 4.75, rounded up to a 5

I don’t know if I was ready to read a book set during lockdown, let alone one as brutal and forthright as this one. But I don’t regret it at all, this was an AMAZING book.

Delilah is Cora’s sister and her North Star. But when Delilah is killed in a brutal attack right in front of Cora’s face, Cora is left adrift. Now hungry ghosts Cora doesn’t believe in are haunting her and she doesn’t know the first thing about how to appease them.

This was a wonderfully terrifying book, and the ghost horror of it creeps up on you so slowly, until it’s the middle of the night and you’re trying not to imagine the horrifying crooked body of a hungry ghost hovering over you.

Cora was also a brilliant example of contamination OCD and how mental illness stagnated during lockdown. I would have liked to know a little bit more on how she ended up committed in the past, but I recognize that it was not the focus of this book.

I also really appreciated the nuance in Cora’s detachment from her Chinese heritage. She feels very caught between two worlds (which felt appropriate for a ghost book lol) and it bled into every aspect of her life. And I really enjoyed that she had the support of her two coworkers-eventual-friends who never once gave her a hard time about it, which I liked.

Brutal ending though my god, I was so sad 😭

Thank you Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for this audio arc of Bat Eater and Other Names For Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

Where do I start? First off WOW! This is my first book by this author and won’t be the last! This is an Amazon novel and the narrator Natalie Naudus did an amazing job. We follow Cora Zeng who witnesses her sisters murder, and is determined to find out what happened to her. She is also a crime scene cleaner in the middle of the covid pandemic she never sees the bodies until one crime scene is a little weird. Removes the body to late and they have not taken photos yet? Why? Oh and don’t get me started on the hungry ghosts! We find out so many secrets in this book. And all the metaphors about racism and feeling alone. Highly recommend

I’d first like to thank @netgalley , @harlequinbooks @kylieleebaker for the opportunity to read & listen this book early. I am forever thankful ❤️
This book, y’all I can barely put into words how much of a whirlwind this book was. Seeing the horror of COVID-19 epidemic through a new lens was a truly shocking experience. We meet Cora, a crime scene cleaner, who witnesses something truly horrifying.. her sister being pushed in front of train. The killer is never caught but she is haunted by his last words, “Bat Eater.”
These days nobody can reach Cora: not her aunt, who wants her to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival; not her weird colleagues; and especially not the slack-jawed shadow lurking around her door frame. After all, it can’t be real-can it? After a series of unexplained killings in Chinatown, Cora believes someone might be targeting East Asian women, and something might be targeting Cora herself.
I felt so many emotions while reading this book: Rage, Grief, Sympathy & a strong Disgust with Humanity.
I honestly em I still thinking about this book friends.
Kylie has this unique talent for crafting such engaging and relatable characters while weaving a story that ensnares you and doesn’t let you go long after you turn the last page.
I adored this book in such a way cause it brings out so many emotions and reminds you that, “Do not let your empathy stop at the borders of your own community.”
I hope you check out this book when it comes into the world April 29th ♥️

5 Stars ⭐

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an Advanced Listening Copy for review purposes.

After the devastating loss of a family member, Cora Zeng is working as a crime scene cleaner during the Covid lockdowns. When she notices a pattern in the killings and believes East Asian women are being targeted, Cora must contend with the figurative and literal spectres that are haunting her.

From the jaw dropping start to the sob-inducing ending, this book had me hooked. There are moments of horror that brought me chills and a tension that doesn't let up. I am wary of books that take place during the lock downs. but Kylie Lee Baker absolutely nails the paranoia and isolation that marked those times, enhanced by the protagonist's East Asian background. The writing made me feel every emotion and I grew very fond of the characters and their growth throughout the story. This felt like a very unique take on a ghost story and I ate it up every second.

As an audiobook, I felt this was very well narrated. The narrator felt "right" for Cora and the other characters felt distinct enough to easily keep track. The narration held my focus as I multi-tasked while listening and was an overall enjoyable experience.