Compelling contemporary horror, offering a profound commentary on societal issues through a gripping and eerie narrative. Really, really impressive stuff.

This book left me speechless! I devoured it in 24 hours, it was absolutely amazing. This is the first (and likely last for a while) pandemic related book that I've even wanted to read or finished. I'm generally not ready to go there, but this was a visceral experience that sucked me in and I could not stop.

This was such a profoundly unsettling book, seeing as the horrors of 2020 and what the Asian community endured is still so fresh. I really love the uptick I've been seeing in real world issues placed into horror reads so that people actually see the issues (hopefully). The authors note at the end of this is one of the best I've read and it hits hard. This is one of those stories that will sit in my head for a very long time.

I received an advance reader copy, and advance listener copy of Bat Eater and other names for Cora Zang and WOW. This story was an extremely dark, graphic, and thought provoking look into the Covid pandemic and its effect on the Asian American population. Our main character Cora witness something extremely haunting and has to cope with her grief, while also dealing with racism, corruption, and misogyny. The book was so beautifully written and graphic, and the narrator really brought this to life in the audiobook. Definetly a must read for anyone who likes horror and ghost stories.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin Audio & Harlequin Trade Publishing for both the ARC & the ALC.

I did a tandem read of this book. I liked the narrator. She did a good job differentiating voices between the characters.

Make sure to check your triggers before reading this book. It’s set in the beginning of the Covid pandemic and has heavy themes of racism, misogyny and there’s gore as well.

This book starts off with little build up. It’s the beginning of the pandemic and Cora and her sister are searching for toilet paper. While waiting for a train in NYC her sister is pushed in front of an oncoming train by a racist white man.

Shortly after, Cora gets a job cleaning up crime scenes and we learn that more Asian women are being murdered by what appears to be a serial killer. On top of that Cora starts to think the ghost of her sister may be haunting her.

Throughout this book we learn more about Cora, her complicated relationship with her sister and other family members. Her feelings of not fitting in enough or knowing enough about her culture. Her self doubts and the things she deals with being Asian in the US during the pandemic.

There were times I felt the pacing was a little slow, and I wish things had gone a little differently with a couple of the characters, but overall, I thought this was a well written book that sheds light on a very real problem that is still an issue.

Gory, gruesome and ghostly. A blend of heartbreak and humor and social commentary I could not look away from. I was admittedly skeptical when I realized how big of a plot point Covid played in this book but it quickly became evident that this was no run of the mill, mention how annoying it is and move on, sort of thing. Exploring the anti-Chinese/Asian racism that exploded amid the pandemic through a serial killer/ghost story offered a perspective I hadn’t had much direct exposure to.

Starting with one of the most viscerally disturbing opening chapters I’ve ever read, I was hooked immediately and could not stop until the bitter end. Horror has always been, in my opinion, one of the best, most effective avenues for social commentary. Bat Eater perfectly encapsulates a very specific moment in time that showed how fear lends itself to some of the worst, most heinous parts of humanity without sacrificing itself to some copy paste platitudes we’re overly familiar with.

Keeping this review short and sweet in an effort to not give too much away but without a doubt this will be on my list of year end favorites.

If audiobooks are your thing, this was fantastic to listen to.

Lots of trigger warnings for violence/racism/xenophobia/animal abuse.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Harlequin for advanced audio and e-book copies in exchange for review.

This had the potential to be great, but I had some major gripes with it.

The first and last 25% were great! Gory, tense, and excellent social commentary; it was what I was expecting from the entire novel, but unfortunately it wasn't what I got.

The middle 50%, was an absolute slog to get through; if I didn't have an ALC of the audiobook alongside the eARC, I probably would have DNF'd it after the first third. The plot was completely stagnant as the main character and her friends ran around like a lackluster episode of Scooby-Doo. It felt very confused, like it didn't know if it wanted to focus on the thriller/crime elements or the paranormal elements; if an effort was make to blend the two, it was done very poorly.

I'm willing to give another adult horror standalone from this author a try in the future, but this just missed the mark for me.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoyed "Diavola" by Jennifer Marie Thorne.

There’s a lot to unpack here especially as the story develops but we get it all: gore, supernatural horror, and a gothic ghost mystery. Did I mention there’s also a serial killer because that is the scary cherry on top. This one is so distinctive as it relates to the horror genre because it is layered so meticulously. The juxtaposition of a lost, soft-souled Cora combined with the hard reality of the trauma and aftermath of the pandemic sets this one in its own lane. I initially gave this 4 stars but I had to bump it up to 4.5.

(I received an ARC of this from Netgalley!)

This was a highly anticipated read for me, and BOY did it deliver.

The story is set in 2020 NYC, so...beginning of the pandemic. I was a little apprehensive about reading a pandemic horror book, but I think that this book was honestly brilliant.

The main character, Cora, is biracial (Chinese/White) who witnesses her sister be murdered (via getting pushed in front of a train) in an act of pandemic-fuled anti-Asian hate. Following her sister's death, Cora has to take a job--any job--to pay the rent, and she winds up with job as a crime scene cleaner. The gory scenes don't bother her as much as germs, the thought of covid, and the fear that any one of her fellow New Yorkers might hate her simply for being Asian in the wake of the "China disease," as they call it.

In the course of her crime scene job, she and her co-workers start to suspect that there is a serial killer specifically targetting Asian women. On top of this, Cora starts to see the ghost of her dead sister, and things get--wild.

Again, I thought this book was so well done. It blended the themes of racism, trauma, grief, and mental health with the horror aspects (ghosts, murder, gore) in a way that really worked for me. Some of the themes here are undeniably heavy, which is worth noting. In particular, it captured very well the anxiety of those early Covid-days in NYC, and especially how Asian folks must have felt in the wake of everyone blaming Covid on China. Still, I felt like the horror/mystery/suspense elements were executed well and really had me hooked on the story, even despite how bleak the backdrop of things was for these characters.

I enjoyed, too, learning about aspects of Asian culture that I was unfamiliar with (ie the whole concept of "Hungry Ghosts," which plays a major role in the story).

Definitely would recommend checking this one out.

This was my favorite read last month. I loved Cora and her story was compelling. The voice was strong and I felt the plight of AAPI people during Covid. I *think* this book may have just made a horror reader of me.

Baker was meant to write horror, that's for sure! I was so excited to hear of her adult debut in the genre, and overall, Bat Eater did not disappoint.
There were just a few things that felt a bit jarring. Some of the main points of this book were delivered quite heavy handedly, especially towards the end. Yifei’s monologue before the car crash comes to mind, as well as Cora’s suddenly, well-versed thoughts when for most of the book she was quite disconnected and numb?

However I do think Baker took this subject matter and crafted a compelling horror novel. I ended up paging through this book quickly, unable to put it down! And her author’s note at the end really tied it together well for me.

Cora Zang is a crime scene cleaner amid the pandemic when she witnesses a horrific act of violence—her sister being pushed in front of a train, another victim of the rising racism against East Asian people. As she grapples with her grief, unexplained teeth marks begin appearing on her coffee table. Soon, Cora realizes that something lurks in the shadows—something hungry.

Kylie Lee Baker masterfully blends real-world horror with the eerie comfort of the supernatural. As in her other works, Baker walks the razor’s edge between fantasy and reality, crafting a chilling story where the most terrifying horrors stem from human actions. Eloquently and reflective, readers are captured from the first page.

Ohhhh boy did I love this book. Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an ARC copy to read!

This novel centers around Cora Zeng and how she deals with her life in COVID times amidst the violent death of her sister, the uptick in racism toward Asian people, and being a crime scene cleaner. The crime scenes she cleans are mainly Asian women, and there has been a strange trend of bats being stuffed in various places at the crime scene. Is it a serial killer? Is it related to her sister's death? Cora will absolutely fuck around and find out...

There are so many things I loved about this book I don't even know where to start. The language was vivid and haunting, and there were some scenes in this book that really creeped me out which, as an avid horror fan, is not an easy think to do. Parts of this had me laughing, crying, gasping in shock. All of the emotions.

The blend between the paranormal and the evil that is people just being people is brilliant. I was equally invested in the hungry ghosts and how Cora was going to deal with it and the serial killer killing Asian women storyline. The statement made about the racism against Asian people, particularly during COVID, is masterfully done. I don't think there was as single thing in this novel that didn't work for me.

Overall, this book was a full 5/5 stars. I truly can't wait to see what Kylie Lee Baker does next.

This book is one of the best books I’ve read all year. I tend to stay away from books that deal with COVID but I’m so glad I made the exception for this book.
It was unputdownable. From the moment I started it, I was consistently surprised by what came next. It managed to be the perfect combination of horror, mystery, social commentary, and exploration of racism and domestic terrorism toward Asian American women, specifically around the time of COVID. The descriptions and vivid imagery were horrible, but only because they were so brilliantly and thoughtfully written.
The main character, Cora, suffers from some form of OCD and PTSD, and through her inner monologue, we are able to understand so much about how mental health affected her experience with the horrors within the books. Cora’s inner monologue also allows us to dive deeper into the realities of this period of time, especially as an Asian American woman.
I haven’t been this enraptured by a book in a long time, and I’m so grateful for the advanced copy!

Went into this book without knowing anything about it. It blew my away with its storytelling. I didn’t want to finish the story so I put off reading the last 20% for a few days just so I could really enjoy it.

**Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Posted to: NetGalley and The StoryGraph (retail reviews pending release date)
Posted on: 24 February 2025

4.6 (rounded up to 5) out of 5 stars.

I want to preface this by saying that this book might be a hard read for those who hold traumas and/or any fears from the 2020 pandemic, especially those deeply affected by anti-asian hate crimes that occurred more frequently because of how close-minded people tried to paint out this epidemic. This story is heavy, it’s hard, it’s got a few golden softer moments, but a lot of it was darker than Kylie Lee Baker’s usual work. It’s gory and gruesome and intense, so it’s not a read for everybody. It’s a social commentary piece though, so at the same time, it's almost as important as it is frightening, if not more.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng talks about being Chinese-American in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the grief of a racially charged murder that leaves almost nothing left (or maybe too much left) to mourn, and the hungry ghosts that appear to you when nobody else cares to hear what they may need. This read was strong from the get-go and ended equally as strongly with hardly a space for a breath once the dominos begin to fall.

Cora Zeng, I think, was a good character. I’ve read few horror stories, but none quite like this. In all that I’ve read, the main characters are more self-assured, more solid in their ways, or just more confident somehow. We learn that Cora relied on her sister Delilah a lot when it came to making decisions/general life choices. After Delilah's death, however, Cora is left on her own. What makes this worse is that she’s balancing on the tightrope between the Chinese side of her family (or more specifically her Auntie Zeng and the Hungry Ghost Festival traditions she’s unsure she believes in) and the American side (or her Auntie Lois and her attempts at being a Good Christian Girl). What makes Cora interesting is the very fact that she’s unsure and untethered. When things begin to happen around her, it’s her more human, not-a-born-savior take on it that makes the emotions hit harder. Cora crumbles, she warps within the space Delilah carved out and was ready to take with her even before she was murdered.
I think the rest of the cast that we follow, too, is really lovable. Harvey and Yifei were some of my favorite side characters and I think the way they interacted with Cora helped push the heavier feelings I felt the deeper through the story I got.

As for the plot itself, there were only minor bits where something happened and it felt… out of place almost (up until you see the resulting end and realize how the moments were meant to connect). I genuinely didn’t expect the story within the pages considering the synopsis and I think that’s what kind of led to the stronger emotional reaction in the end. Nothing could have really prepared me for what was going to happen. In the name of the genre, this book horrified me and I really can’t wait to get a physical copy of it just to read it all over again.
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a powerful and well-built read that mixes real life horrors with something more paranormal and supernatural. You wouldn’t expect to find heart in something like this, even more so once the threads unravel to expose the flesh of the fear, but it was a phenomenal take on the grief and trauma embedded in the world, and just how much hatred truly plays a part in it all.

CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Death, murder, blood, grief, mental illness, body mutilation/horror, racism, hate crime, racial slurs, gore, misogyny, femicide, pandemic/epidemic, animal cruelty, sexual harassment, police brutality, medium-detailed crime scenes involving murder/mutilation, child abuse (emotional, neglect), alcohol, forced institutionalization (not graphically detailed), vomit, religious content/religion minorly used to guilt

Creepy, gory, dark imagery. Cora a NYC investigation cleaner witnesses her sister Delilahs murder as they waited for the subway, she gets pushed onto the incoming train. Taking place during the COVID pandemic, a series of murders are happening; all targeting Asian women. I enjoyed the ghost stories throughout, the weaving of different faiths/beliefs. The Pandemic has brought about a serial killer behind hateful acts of crime and violence leaving a trail of Bats with each victim. Bateater; who is the faceless man behind the mask? 4.5

Thank You Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Cora Zeng watched her sister Delilah get pushed in front of a train in New York City during the COVID pandemic, in what was obviously a hate crime. Before the perpetrator ran away, he screamed a phrase that still haunts her - bat eater.

Cora works as a crime scene cleaner, and is noticing a trend of Asian women being brutally murdered or committing suicide in Chinatown. The horrific clean-ups don't bother her much, but finding bats at the scenes of the crime definitely do. Pair this with the fact that her dead sister seems to be trying to tell her something, taking the form of a hungry ghost. As Cora inches further to the truth, the horrors of the world around her become apparent as she tries to avoid the virus and the killer who seems to be searching her out.

This was a helluva good horror novel. What I like about horror, is that it asks the reader where the fear is coming from. And in this novel, the horror comes not only from the paranormal, but from the COVID virus and the racist attacks on the Asian community that happened because of the virus. I loved how the author took that reality at the time and mixed it with the Hungry Ghosts legends from China. The best horror has a message, and this is a perfect example of that.

This novel completely took me by surprise—in the best way possible. I initially hesitated to dive into a story set during the pandemic, still feeling weary from the real-life chaos of those years. But rather than being overwhelming, the setting turned out to be the perfect backdrop for this eerie, unsettling, and deeply compelling horror story.

The writing is sharp, atmospheric, and immersive, pulling me into Cora Zeng’s haunted world with ease. As a crime scene cleaner, Cora's job already places her at the crossroads of death and decay, but it's the lingering trauma of her sister’s murder that truly unravels her. The way the novel blurs the lines between psychological horror, folklore, and real-world violence is masterful. The themes of grief, identity, and fear—both rational and supernatural—are woven seamlessly into the narrative.

While I tend to prefer more action-driven horror, the novel’s contemplative moments didn’t detract from its intensity. If anything, they added to the creeping dread that builds with each page. And when things do escalate, the payoff is chilling and powerful. The recurring imagery of bat carcasses, hungry ghosts, and Cora’s own unraveling psyche made for an unforgettable read.

This is a novel that lingers, much like the ghosts within it. Haunting, beautifully written, and deeply unsettling—highly recommended.

Actual Rating is 4.5 ⭐️s!

If you were to take the thriller aspect and complicated sisterly dynamic of My Sister the Serial Killer, the church confessional monologue from episode 2x05 of the show Fleabag, and the East Asian folklore horror visuals of The Grudge, mix them all up, and plop them down in 2020 New York during peak COVID era, then you’d get Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker.

It’s such a phenomenally written novel that follows our title character Cora, a 24 year old Chinese woman and germaphobe with obsessive compulsive disorder living with her older sister Delilah in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, until tragedy strikes when they are waiting for the train and Delilah is pushed onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train by an anonymous white man, shouting two words as he fled: bat eater. Reeling from the death of her sister and feeling more untethered than ever from the chaotic world around her, Cora finds employment as a crime scene cleaner, where she notices the rising number of young East Asian women who are the victims of lethal violence at the scenes she and her colleagues are called to, with bat carcasses conspicuously present at each scene. To top it all off, Cora begins to receive disturbing visits from her sister’s hungry ghost, which Cora must put a stop to if Delilah is meant to move on, something Cora herself is struggling to do, while also contending with the looming threat of being the serial killer’s potential next victim.

With brilliant and suspenseful pacing, a biting and dark humor, insightful commentary about the effects of xenophobia and racism upon BIPOC communities during the pandemic, and a main character whose desires and response to grief are in such raw and emotionally complex detail, Kylie Lee Baker’s novel is a unique and welcome addition to the horror genre that highlights the haunting aspects of life, grief, race, and trauma that are just as likely to take a bite out of you as any hungry ghost.