very interesting premise that felt like too much was happening. There's ghosts, there's a serial killer, there's elements of christian demons and such that may or may not be related to the ghosts. Just a lot happening.
And one thing that frustrated me more than anything was how Cora felt she couldn't talk to her friend about the ghost she's seeing even AFTER the friend says "here's the scar from when a GHOST BIT ME.
It's also frustrating how very in her head she is the whole book, I just wished she'd talk to someone, which would have been fine if there weren't people actively trying to talk to HER. Just very frustrating to read, which is unfortunate cause the STORY is such an important one.

Oof. After loving some of Baker’s past work (The Scarlet Alchemist in particular), and with hearing rave reviews from trusted friends, I went into this hoping for a new favorite book!

The setting and ambience were truly so chilling, Baker is excellent at writing an atmosphere that pulls you in. The first quarter of this book had me ADDICTED, but the plot was more meandering than I’d have preferred and ultimately, I was hoping it would go in a different direction.

I think the story itself is so important and worth a read, and I feel sick to my stomach to know so many were and still are treated this way! But I didn’t leave the book feeling like my cup was filled, and that is ultimately why I chose the rating.

(But a million stars for the narration; she’s one of my favorites ever!)

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is the first book about the pandemic I have connected with on a deeper level. It opens with unimaginable loss as Cora's sister is murdered in front of her, leaving her haunted by the image and the killer's words: bat eater. This act of unthinkable violence upends her life and forces her to realize she never really made plans of her own. Cora falls into a job as a crime scene cleaner as the main urge she can identify without her sister is a desire for complete cleanliness and access to industrial-strength cleaners.

When Cora and her crew are repeatedly called to clean murder scenes with horrifying similarities, including dead bats left behind like calling cards, they realize they are among the first to uncover a serial killer at work in the city. This, coupled with Cora's growing suspicion she is being haunted by ghosts of her own, combine to create an incredibly atmospheric and claustrophobic horror novel that is hard to put down. The exploration of themes of racism, grief, and haunting and the way these came to a head at a specific time and in a specific place is so well illustrated in these pages.

The representation of Cora's mysophobia and how it intersects with the pandemic is also very well done. Her obsessive-compulsive tendencies around food were very validating to see represented and her general anxiety about being out and about in the early pandemic rings all too true.

Because of the heavy gore in some parts, I would recommend this mainly to horror readers and especially those who like horror with social commentary and strong characters. Additionally, I'd recommend this to anyone willing to give the gore a try, because this is a book that deserves to be read widely.

Harlequin Audio ALC
This was a dark and tense horror that captured the suffocating feeling that was the beginning of the 2020 pandemic. This author focused on the Asian community and the utter hate and disrespect they received from others. This book due to that was dark, but she also expertly weaved in horror that kept me tense the whole time. The sense of dread slowly started creeping up throughout this novel, and I had to know what would happen with the hungry ghosts. It was dark and propulsive. If you're a horror fan, I highly recommend this one.
It's also narrated by Natalie Naudus, who is one of my absolute favorites. She always captures the characters so distinctly that I know I am getting an excellent book when she narrates.

My first arc! thank you Netgalley!

This novel possessed two traits that I love. The first is that the conceit is immediately understood by the characters, so we as an audience can help them problem solve instead of waiting for them to catch up. The second is a thorough representation of another culture in a genre that is dominated by white/anglo-saxon stories.

When someone says "ghosts" you primarily think of little Victorian kids in old houses, or angry witches or demons slamming doors shut. Japanese ghosts got a bit of play when The Ring came out, but it had been redone for an American audience with white people. It was so nice to read a ghost story/horror that had zero white perspectives in it, and we could just sink in to the Chinese experience. As a half Chinese woman living in NYC during the pandemic, a lot of my experience felt validated.

The book was smart, refreshing, well written, scary, and sad. Definitely recommend!

*4.5⭐️ Bat Eater is an evocative horror novel that delves into deeply relevant themes such as the pandemic, racism, corruption, mental health, and the supernatural. It centers around Cora, a character grappling with the profound loss of her sister, the anxiety brought on by COVID-19, and her own personal grief. The narrative strikes a delicate balance, intertwining moments of gut-wrenching horror with unexpected bursts of humor and warmth as Cora builds relationships with her colleagues. This refreshing take on the serial killer genre not only addresses the rise of anti-Asian racism in the pandemic's early days but also offers an emotionally resonant and chilling experience for readers new to the world of horror fiction. It stands as both a thrilling and thought-provoking read.

*the only reason I didn't give this a 5⭐️ rating was because of the graphic gore described throughout. Horror isn't typically my go-to genre, but the story was so captivating that I powered through those parts, and I'm so glad I did! I highly recommend this to anyone who can handle the explicit horror scenes because the message and payoff are absolutely worth it!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC audio for my honest review!

I absolutely adored this story. It's brutal, honest and heartbreaking. It takes us back to the beginning of the end of the world, aka 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic. Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner in New York haunted by trauma, hungry ghosts and a serial k!ller. She's forced to confront the violence experienced by East Asians during the pandemic. Cora is obsessed with the need to be clean and that part definitely felt relatable with my OCD. Also, I love seeing cleaners in fiction.

This story deals with mental health, the collective unraveling that was 2020, racism, and the cleaning industry. Loss, relationships and finding who you are are all big parts of this story as well.

I don't want to say much more without ruining the story, but this is definitely a must read for everyone.

I had been seeing this all over insta and needed to read it based on just the gorgeous cover, but when I read the synopsis I was even more sold. I'm so grateful to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the advanced audio.

Pre-order now! And read it April 29th 🖤

A dark look into the emotional turmoil of the Covid-19 pandemic that takes a turn into gory macabre horror.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is an easy 5 star. I read the audio version.

We follow Cora as her life changes after watching the brutal murder of her beloved sister, Delilah. Set in the backdrop of COVID in New York, Cora becomes a crime scene cleaner as she adjusts to life without Delilah, makes new friends, and uncovers some ghostly horrors.

Cora is written in a way that makes you so connected to her as a reader. You can feel her anxiety, her self doubt, her loneliness, her self consciousness/criticisms. She is a very relatable character and shows obvious self growth throughout the novel.

This is so much more than a ghost story, though. This is a critical, brutal commentary on racism in the US, only amplified by the pandemic. It is such an important read. Kylie Lee Baker exquisitely blends horror with social commentary.

Contemporary horror that leaves a huge impact on the reader. This had me laughing at points but completely disgusted at humanity the next. A must read, not just for horror fans.

My favorite things about this book are the blending of the horrors (realistic & supernatural) with social commentary, & the presence of cultural traditions throughout. Cora Zeng is a young Chinese American, caught between the worlds of her white mother & her Chinese father, both of whom are absent.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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She struggles with grief, her mental health, her personal identity, the trauma of witnessing her sister’s murder, her two aunts’ different faiths, & ghost hauntings. She faces daily racism & realizes she’s been cleaning up anti-Asian crime scenes. On top of this, the novel is set during COVID.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Each element & layer is expertly woven together to create this original story. I also enjoyed the bit of humor & the found family aspect.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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This is equal parts powerful, gory, haunting, & thought-provoking!⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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An important takeaway from the author’s note: “Do not let your empathy stop at the borders of your own community.”

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.

The narrator was wonderful, and if you’re ready to pick this up, I recommend giving the audiobook a chance.

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

Mark me down as a forever fan of Kyle Lee Baker.

I approached this book with extreme trepidation and left crowing. This book is rife with trigger warnings: death, animal cruelty, COVID-19, nationalism, racism, sexism, ableism, hallucination, body horror, gore, and more. Each and every trigger was skillfully wielded by Lee Baker in this gripping story about the tension of being bicultural, the violence of white supremacy, and the grief of loss. The sensitivity that the author approached the violence towards Asian, specifically Chinese, women during this time through her book was remarkable and allows this book to be as successful as it is. I think authors who did not experience this pain so acutely or share these identities would not be able to pull off this book.

Cora Zeng was a remarkable main character and her growth throughout the novel was astounding. She's neurodivergent (diagnosis never given, but extreme interventions were taken) and the role of her unstable brain only heightens the tension of the story without demeaning Zeng. As a neurospicy individual myself, I appreciated this. Cora is also courageous, which made me root for her from page one.

The folklore and stories shared about Chinese death beliefs and practices were completely new to me. Lee Baker did a fantastic job explaining it and it made for a fantastic foundation for the story. I was completely bought into the premise, though I was never scared. Other reviewers found themselves much more frightened than I ever was. I was certainly swept along by the pace and the thrill of the unknown, but I was not afraid.

In the author's note, Lee Baker talks about how in dedicating this book to everyone we lost in the pandemic, as well as to "all that we lost, including the parts of ourselves." And wow, I needed to hear that. 5 years and 3 days since the first lockdown started and I am just beginning to realize that yes, something did change and die in me, even though I did not. I thought that the grief of the pandemic, and reliving it through this book would overwhelm me. This was not the case at all. Instead, I felt strangely comforted as I confronted my second plague book since living through one.

Thank you to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for this Audio-ARC!

Holy crap, what a bone chillingly phenomenal read!
I was hooked from chapter one!

Bakers writing is descriptive in an easy going way that lends itself well to the thriller genre and this audiobook. Her descriptions of the characters and the scenarios- ESPECIALLY when it came to the hungry ghosts and the blatant racism that Cora deals with throughout the novel is vivid and to me was down right mortifying and sickening to listen to at times- which means that it was doing its job perfectly!

Cora herself is a fun and interesting protagonist that I found easy to relate to and understand. Her character was immediately engaging and her story arc throughout this book made it almost impossible to put down! (I found myself staying up late to listen a few nights in a row)

Her found friends at the cleaning service was one of the most beautiful and heartwarming developments of any novel I’ve ever read! The audiobook has the lovely narrator Natalie Naudus give each of the characters a different voice to easily identify who’s speaking too which I quite enjoy in an audiobook!

The combination of real life terrors/threats on the Asian community during COVID, COVID itself, and the fantastical elements of the hungry ghosts was impeccably woven together and both amplified the terror of the other in a very jarring and thought provoking way

I felt sick, my heart hurt, I wanted to hug Cora, I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, and at points I was really excited for Cora and how she grew as a person!


Absolutely a must read!!!
(But do be sure to check TW!!!)

5/5 stars — stunning. powerful. haunting (both literally and figuratively). kylie lee baker’s writing truly just did the job for me. I loved cora’s characterization, and she was the perfect character for this story to be told with.

I don't want to say a lot about this book as I am not own voices here and I think own voices reviews should always be sought out first when looking into a book.
I will say I throughly enjoyed this book. I read the whole thing in one sitting. Baker has definitely become a new favorite author for me now. She especially did a good job talking about contamination OCD (I do have that). I very rarely see OCD presented realistically in media but Baker did a great job of it. I definitely recommend this book and I am going to bug all my friends and customers to read this book!

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker could quite frankly be my favorite book of 2025! I read anywhere from 200 to 250 books per year with horror being my favorite genre and this book was all the things at once. This book had it all, a great plotand narrator, important social commentary, creepy scenes, cultural tradition, and did I say it was creepy. CINEMATIC! And the writing was exquisite and thought-provoking while relaying important and disturbing commentary on the evil of people and their views of our worlds. BRAVO! All the stars!

(4.75 rounded up) I absolutely loved this one. I don’t even know where to begin! The characters are fantastic, the story is both thrilling and enlightening, and the descriptions? Chef’s kiss. I honestly want this book to be adapted into a movie immediately.

Set in New York City in 2020 (yes, that 2020), this thriller horror follows Cora, our main character, who is thrust into a life-changing event right from the start—a challenge that will impact her throughout the entire book. Cora works as part of a cleanup crew for investigative murder scenes. As she and her coworkers work, they begin to notice eerie, serial killer-like patterns at each crime scene, which are being swept under the rug by corrupt politicians and officers. To make matters worse, Cora is also haunted by a 12-foot ghost that has to bend its neck just to get through doorways (hello, It Follows vibes). After a terrifying ankle grab under the bed, Cora’s ghostly companion helps her find a crucial item that could be key to cracking the serial murder case.

This book is a must-read, especially for fans of well-written thriller horrors.

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 🥺

Kylie Lee Baker's Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a chilling horror novel that blends psychological tension with supernatural elements. The story follows Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner in Chinatown, who is haunted by the traumatic murder of her sister and the eerie presence of hungry ghosts. The writing is both vivid and unsettling, capturing the protagonist's descent into paranoia and fear as she uncovers a series of brutal murders targeting East Asian women. The author's exploration of inner trauma and cultural violence during the pandemic adds depth and relevance to the horror genre.

Thank you to NetGalley, MIRA and the author for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.