This is the first book I've read that is set during the Covid pandemic. As I'm sure most people can agree, we all experienced different traumas, while living through the collective trauma of the scary unknown. Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng perfectly captured the fear of that time and the intense racism & hatred that so many Chinese people experienced. I was completely absorbed in the story, the way that Kylie described the changes in the once vibrant New York City to cold and desolate was visceral. I could see the shadows she created in my mind so vividly, as if they were in the room with me. I very rarely get actual chills while reading a horror novel but there were a few moments that I was actually scared. If you have a hard time with body horror, be warned that there is quite a lot of that in this book. PLEASE read the authors note at the end. I was moved by Kylie's sentiment. If you choose to pick any fiction book up about the pandemic, I highly urge you to pick this one up.

4.5/5 stars

This book is so much more than I expected it to be -- it's a horror novel, but so much more than that. At its core, it focuses on the anti-Chinese racism and violence during the COVID-19 pandemic while also dealing with past trauma and a serial killer. I was on the edge of my seat while reading this and couldn't put it down. While it was difficult to read at times, it deals with some very important themes and commentary on the last few years.

The only reason I rated it 4.5 stars is because this is a gory novel, which is not something I personally enjoy. It comes with the territory, since the main character is a crime scene cleaner, but it was a bit more than I could handle at times.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement. The book started off with a jaw dropping moment and it never really escalates in the same way again. Cora goes through the book as a "meh" character. It's 2020 and covid has hit NYC and Cora goes through extra steps in her day to prevent getting infected, almost to an extreme. Cora and her work mates try to solve a paranormal problem with mortal consequences. As people begin to get hurt it starts to take a fall. Throughout the book it addresses the racial discrimination to Chinese people from those who think that all Chinese are to blame since "their people" ate bats that started the pandemic. It was a great social commentary but the pacing is a little off for my taste. Overall not a bad story just not timed very well.

#netgalley #bateaterandothernamesforcorazeng #harlequinenterprises

After witnessing her sister's murder at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Cora Zeng must deal with what's haunting her - literally and figuratively.

So this was devastating and terrifying and grief-filled, all in an amazing way. It's hard to write a usual review gushing about the parts that "I loved" considering, it's all tragic. This book makes you scared, and full of regret, and angry. Despite some dragging pacing in the middle, I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a different kind of pandemic novel, or just a really effective ghost story.

Kylie Lee Baker is great at the gory and ghostly horror elements, never letting the reader truly relax before splashing blood or ravenous ghosts on the page. The tension is thick, the horror makes you squirm, and the commentary if effective. Along with the outside horror, the interior of Cora's mind is also overwhelming as she tries to reconcile being Asian, a woman, and feeling purely alone during the pandemic (and a haunting). But seeing Cora grow closer to her coworkers, her culture, and gain more confidence in herself was wonderful. The characters make this story, and I felt for every one.

Overall a gory, ghost-filled, and thrilling read.

What a book.

Bat eater tells the story of Cora after her sister was pushed down in front of a train in the midst of the COVID pandemic. It’s horror, full of gore, anxious atmosphere and hungry ghosts but also uncomfortable truths. It explores racism, mental health, bigotry, hatred, pandemic frenzy -never shying away from any of it- making Bat Eater a unique and important book.

It’s bleak and depressing, sometimes a little too much and not for the faint of heart, but absolutely fantastic.

4.5 stars because this book is ahead of its time. Most books that are written about the pandemic are books that trigger me so much i end up not enjoying it, but this one I feel opposite. Now grated it is still triggering because of the racism and assault against Asian women and content but it was so good. The gore, the body horror, the beautiful ways that this author woven into this story was so captivating. I highly enjoyed this and would definitely recommend this to my audience

This story went places I didn’t expect, and I am so glad I was along for the ride! Bloody and tense, filled with grief and self-loathing and despair, this story shines reaches into the darkness at the heart of systemic violence and discrimination and grabs tight with bony claws.

It is set in New York City in 202, right at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and at the start part of me wished it wasn’t placing itself so directly in actual history, because the discrimination and violence that the pandemic brought to light existed before and after it, and my initial impulse wanted this story to find its voice outside of a very specific historical event. By the end of the novel, though, I realize how wrong I was, and while the story could have existed outside of that historical moment it actually brings the novel closer to the audience, closer to our real life, and in many ways an indictment of a status quo many quietly tolerated if not actively profited from. Additionally, it went a long way to help the world-building, because the emptiness of NYC during the early months of the pandemic is an eerie and palpable reality, and then add in what it was like in New York’s Chinatown at that period and there is a visceral, emotive quality to the world that feels genuine and real and intensifies everything else in the story.

The main character and the few ancillary characters are all really lovingly, wonderfully realized. Not in any way perfect, our broken, traumatized protagonists form an incredible found family, and those emotional connections keep the heart of the story beating. The other ancillary characters, namely the aunties but also the random strangers and antagonists don’t have as much depth, necessarily, but they actually still feel real, like genuine people you know. I really appreciated the emotional journey our main character took, from a past filled with violence and trauma that never gets revealed in full, only in critical details here and there, to a type of blossoming into herself and the realities she is choosing to face and not hide from or try and wash away.

The story itself feels like it is at the crossroads of a number of different genres, with mystery/whodunit vibes type of violent slasher/thriller vibes mixed with paranormal folk horror, all of which live within an introspective social commentary. It flows between these seamlessly, with really strong writing that is descriptive, emotional, and nail-bitingly tense. There is a yawning despair to the writing, a feeling of lack, of never having enough, not in a bad way but in a way that is pulling you along, desperate morsel after desperate morsel. This works really well with the pacing, and once the story gets its claws into you it is hard to put down. The unsettling combination of violence and apathy fuels a type of rage in our characters and the writing and pacing just help stoke a similar blaze in the reader.

My nitpicking critiques would be that the worldbuilding and atmosphere does rely somewhat heavily on the reader’s personal memory and experience of living through the COVID 19 pandemic, and I wonder if reader totally unfamiliar with what NYC was like in the summer of 2020 would feel the world of the novel sufficiently well-developed. While I enjoyed the directions the story took, with some action being very abrupt and some a slower type of simmer, the resolution did feel a little bit easy or expected. It is hard to say unearned, given what the characters had to experience and understand to get to that climax and resolution, and yet it did feel thin. The story has multiple simultaneous stories to navigate, the paranormal aspect and the serial killer aspect, and it felt like things fell into place easier than they should have. Nothing was handed to our characters, they did have to work for every revelation, but I wanted a little more. I think this is also because I just wanted more time with our central trio, a found family of outcasts that I enjoyed more and more every time they were together on the page. The way they transformed form coworkers to something else, what they shared that brought them together and what their developing relationships looked and felt like, those are all things I would have liked to spend more time with, and it feels like if we had been given that time it might have resolved my other critiques as well. That is all to say I wouldn’t have minded an additional 50 pages to this novel, because it read really quickly and I wanted to stay in the world with these characters, through frightening times and times of joy, too.

A gory, emotional, character-driven story that doesn’t pull its punches when looking at systemic problems but never feels preachy. This is a story where trauma and violence fuel an understandable anger, yes, but also a deep empathy, and a recognition that humanity is more than any individual, for better or worse. It navigates heavy and important topics through a combination of biting honesty and supernatural revenge, and I am glad that I had the chance to read it.

(Rounded up from 3.5)

I want to thank NetGalley, the author, and the publisher Harlequin Trade Publishing, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a short, quick read that brings us back to NYC during the early COVID days. Cora, an obsessive compulsive germaphobe (my interpretation even though I’m not sure it was ever specifically stated) is just trying to live her life after sister gets murdered. I felt Cora was so endearing and I honestly loved her and her weird quirks and compulsions.

At face value, not much happened - but the deeper message was so emotional and you could tell the author felt deeply about this. But I am quite certain Baker deserves jail for what she did towards the end bc how dare she?? I couldn’t believe what she did to my poor Cora 😭

As someone who HATES bats, parts of this one had me 🤢 but don’t let that discourage you bc I swear it wasn’t that bad - I just get grossed out by weird things. I also totally understand if you’re hesitant to pick up a pandemic themed book, because I was too. But this one had so many more layers to it than just the pandemic story.

I listened to the audiobook with reading along and enjoyed it a lot. As always, I love knowing the correct pronunciations of names and places and the narrator did an amazing job with this book. Highly recommend either format!

Thank you to the publisher and the author for the advanced copy!

I’m normally not a fan of pandemic-era books, since we all just looked through it so I’m not really interested in reading about it, but but this book was so original and so haunting that I’m definitely glad I made an exception, and if you feel the same way that I do, you should to.

Cora is a half Chinese girl, living in New York City during the Covid pandemic, when she witnesses, her sister being pushed in front of a train. Just as the man shoves her, he says, “bat eater.” Four months later, Cora has taken a job as a crime scene cleaner, with a company in Chinatown, and her and her coworkers noticed a pattern: young women are being killed and bats left behind. Not only that, but it is the season of hungry ghosts and they seem eager to follow Cora.

It’s an amazing set-up right? Well, let me tell you, the book lives up to this premise and even more.

Now I do have to say, some of the descriptions are not for the faint of heart, because as I said, Cora and her friends are cleaning up crime scenes and they are described in detail. I mean, this is a horror novel, after all. But it all builds up attention that is just palpable throughout the entire book and I couldn’t stop reading as Cora is haunted both by the crime scenes she cleans and the ghosts that continue to follow her.

Would also makes it interesting is that Cora is a pretty unreliable narrator. She doesn’t go into a lot of of her mental health problems, but she definitely hints that there are several in her past, which means that some of this could be in her head, and she even admits that. That adds an intriguing layer to the story because not only are we dealing with the supernatural but we’re dealing with these small cruises that may or may not be real. It’s so creepy.

The ending was really spectacular because it’s both social commentary and just plain old good ending that I really didn’t see coming. The author did a really good job of really mixing the horror and mystery genres so that things go south quickly, but that there is a conclusion to the central mysteries of the novel, just like in both horror and mystery novels.

I’m excited to read more from this author and highly recommend this book. It’s truly one of a kind.

The height of COVID is the perfect setting for this claustrophobic (well, everythingphobic) horror about a Chinese-American woman who is haunted by the ghost of her recently-dead sister. Months ago, COVID had just made an appearance in New York and Cora’s sister Delilah was the victim of an Asian-hate crime. Now, Cora struggles to forget even as she spends her days cleaning up crime scenes, some of which are starting to seem related. There’s a serial killer on the loose, destroying the bodies of Asian women and leaving bats as his calling card. Worse, it’s August, the Ghost Month, and the hungry dead have started to creep into the shadows of Cora’s life. Her attempts to ignore them are as futile as her attempts to convince the police that she’s in danger, so it might be time for her to embrace her Chinese heritage, gather up some coworkers, and learn how to bust a ghost or two.

The ghosts are terrifying, as Chinese ghosts are wont to be (at one point, Cora worries that Delilah might be hiding behind her eyelids). Cora’s phobias are both excessive and surprisingly relatable, given the time period. The racism and hatred against Asians is oppressive and constricting, making a certain type of white man into a monster scarier than the ghosts themselves - and the ghosts eat people. Very much like Ring Shout in that way. I already wish that I could read it again for the first time.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng was dark and disturbing but in the best way. This book was graphic and horryfying but I could not stop reading. After witnessing the horrific death of her sister, Cora cleans crime scenes in NYC during the pandemic. In addition to her trauma , she is navigating possible OCD and is held hostage by the fear of germs everywhere. She just can't get clean enough.

This book torn me apart. The social commentary on racism during the pandemic coupled with the graphic imagery was perfect. It is very much a horror book that filled me with rage and sadness especially given the current political climate.

The horrors are consistent throughtout the book. The very real horror of racism and the pandemic. The horror of the crime scenes that Cora cleans up. The horror of hungry ghosts.

Please check trigger warnings before reading this book. It's heavy. I also highly recommend reading the author's note at the end. Perfection.

As someone that does not love horror books. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. This is a definte recommend for me.

Thank you so much to the publisher, author and Netgalley for this ARC.

1. Shared on Instagram and goodreads
2. To be shared 3/20/25
3. Just posted
https://www.instagram.com/p/DHa2_-hOBuE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Bat Eater is a horror story 😱. A horror story for reveling in the harsh reality of the traumatic events of covid as an Asian American that is unsettling to read and equally a horror story in the haunting aspects of the supernatural. Which horrors do you think left me gasping and absolutely terrified, though?

A fictional story that is able to reccount such a bleak time period for Chinese Americans, the story opens following Cora Zeng, a 24 year old Chinese American crime scene cleaner during the pandemic who is dealing with trauma, ghosts, pressures of family and cultural expectations, and a disgustingly amount of germs. The story grips you from the beginning to immerse you back into the pandemic, in an abandoned subway station in New York, after trying to find toilet paper.. way too vivid. The amount of violence and hate that was fueled by racism and portrayed following this absolutely left me shocked, and it was uncomfortable to think about how true these instances rang. It is a reflection on how cruelty manifests in times of fear and the nature of how humans cope psychologically with paranoia. And it is not good, my friends. It is gory and violent as fxck.

Bat Eater is such a thought-provoking novel, Kylie Lee Baker ingeniously composes a book that is able to combine the hauntingly scary and gory suspense of a fictional peice of work with a very realistic grim social commentary on the racism and prejudices that runs rampant in America. And I am so honored to have been offered an ARC of Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, because it is so important to highlight and uplift experiences/stories of others, so we can hopefully understand and learn empathy by gaining more perspective.

Thank you, @netgalley and @htpbooks🥹

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

I absolutely loved this book. Baker did a great job at balancing the horror and mythology aspects with the explorations of themes around trauma, grief, and racism. It’s haunting and gory and had my heartrate up while I was reading. Cora is a very anxious individual, which for me can sometimes either be great or really difficult to get through, but I thought that she was very real and complex and her preexisting mental health issues were exacerbated by her circumstances (being Asian American in New York City in 2020, also the ghosts and string of murders) in a way that felt realistic and relatable. The end is cathartic and I really enjoyed being on Cora’s journey from hell with her. I can’t wait to re-read this and I’ll definitely keep an eye out for Baker’s future adult horror.

Despite the edgy exaggeration of the book's title, this is quite a dark story. I felt an uncomfortable mix of despair, anger, hopelessness, frustration, and fear as I read. Especially in our current 2025 political conflict where hatred, misogyny, and mob mentality rule the day, the world of this story could very easily rear its ugly head again (if it hasn't already).
But this aside, Baker has written an engrossing tale for our times that mix current (recent) events, a ghost story, a murder mystery, a serial killer story, a view of what Asian people (especially Asian women) experienced thru the nightmare of the COVID/Trump lockdown years. I was rooting for Cora and her friends, laughing at their crime scene cleaner workplace hijinx while at the same time cringing at the horrific things they witnessed on the job.
I appreciated an insider view to life during lockdown from an Asian female perspective framed in a genre ghost story/murder mystery. And while I felt uncomfortable experiencing (second-handedly) that despair and fear, I know it only pales in comparison to what the author experienced living through that time.

3.5 - I was immediately sucked into this story. The first chapter ends with a bang and you can't help but want more. I really appreciated the mix of historical tradition and modern life that made up this paranormal story. Despite there being a big emphasis on the paranormal aspect, I found the parts about the real life horrors to be more impactful. While I think the story wraps up properly and there were some very intense moments, I did feel like the story dipped at times and the writing style felt a bit YA, which isn't my cup of tea.
Overall, if you like paranormal stories with real life horror elements, this is a good one!

A blend of horror and social commentary. Beware this book is set in COVID times and makes the reader very aware of that, which I know not everyone wants to read about.

Cora is a crime scene cleaner, and realizes they are cleaning up more and more Asian bodies, with bats left at the scene. Her and her friends start an investigation, while also trying to get rid of the hungry ghost that is following Cora. The author does a great job at explaining the Chinese hungry ghost beliefs while not overwhelming the reader in the folklore.

The only downside is that I feel like the ending was a bit rushed- from the point where she finds out about the mayor hiding these murders and then to setting his home on fire. I was fine with the last chapter rap up, but the bit to get there was way too quick!

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.