Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Audio | MIRA for this ARC Copy!

I was so nervous to read this book because I did not want to lose any more faith in humanity, but seeing the reality that so many people experience every day is important, and this book is so well written and impactful that anyone who can get past the trigger warnings needs to read it. This story was so impactful and really gave such a tragic and raw insight about the abuse and racism that is still alive and well in America to this day. Seeing this through the eyes of Cora, who has so many internal struggles, had such a strong impact on the whole story.

I was sad about this. I was looking forward to this so much. Commentary about racism towards Asians, possible Asian ghosts, and a serial killer targetting Asian women? Sign me up!

Unfortunately, I am more picky about what kinds of horror I can tolerate in my reads, and BAT EATER ended up falling on the other side of that line. If you're a squeamish scaredy-cat like me, be warned that BAT EATER is incredibly gory, and if adapted into film/TV would be the kind filled with lots of spooky jump-scares and sudden noises and ghostly shapes out of the corner of your eye, the kind that I am much too scared to read, let alone watch.

The thing is, I can tolerate creepy-crawly dread, and even gore, if the story was a bit more compelling. But besides for the opening scene of Cora's sister's brutal death (which was very effective, even for a non-horror fan like myself), I found BAT EATER otherwise repetitive. The plot moves forward at a snail's pace; rather, we are in Cora's head a lot about how she feels like a non-person without her sister; meeting well-intentioned relative after well-intentioned relative that don't add much to the story (at least for me); caught in repetitive scenes of her crime scene cleaning job with her two odd colleagues, being directed to details of gore or creepiness or ghostliness.

As I write this, I'm aware that this is probably what most horror stories are like--that the "enjoyment" is in the slow build-up of dread. But if you're not enough of a fan of horror to be patient through these same-y scenes, you may, like me, also end up losing interest, no matter how interesting the premise of Asian women being murdered in the wake of COVID-induced racism is.

This was the perfect commentary of the COVID pandemic while bringing us tons of gore and body horror. If you want to read a horror book that gets you more mad and riled up about racism than afraid of boogeyman, then you need to pick this up.

As events ramp up in the story, Cora starts to lose her grip on reality a bit, which adds to the horror of Asian women being slaughtered across New York and as we find out who the killer(s) are, the fear is heightened.

Everything about this story was perfect. The character dynamics between Cora and her fellow clean up crew members were fantastic and everything felt too real. I am so glad this book was written. I am so glad it is coming out right now. It is the perfect time for this book, to be able to look back at the pandemic and the way our country handled things, through the lens of horror.

If you get the chance, read this via audiobook also. Natalie Naudus is the perfect voice for Cora Zeng and brings so much emotion to this story.

Thank you to @harlequinn and @htp_audio for the eARC and ALC. All thoughts are my own.

I enjoyed this book. The horror is very well written, and appropriately disturbing, and the connections to the actual COVID pandemic are very nicely made. The cultural context and complexity is well done as well, and the plot arc perfectly unnerving, with a satisfying ending.

I know I'm fairly alone in this opinion, but it was just ok. there were parts I really loved.. it was perfectly scary and gross like I expected, but it took almost half of the book to get reinvested after a great start.. and the ending was just ok.

📖(what you’ll find):
𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙙 • 𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙩-𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 • 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙠𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙚 • 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 • 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 • 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 • 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙨 • 𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 • 𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙨 • 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙨, 𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙨 • 𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙨 • 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 •

🦇:
This was a refreshing change of direction from how my reading has been going lately. I had a few “meh“ 🫤 reads prior to picking this book up (it happens!).

Bat Eater (for short) was unique. It is bingeable and I listened to this one in the span of a day.

✅:
I found BE to be atmospheric, haunting, emotional, and creepy! Some of the elements that I love in a horror book. Check, check, and check!

🖤:
I never thought I’d get in my feels reading a horror, but here we are.

I am part of the group of women that was targeted with such violence and cruelty in this book. While fictional, the reality is that the prejudices and the discrimination that people in marginalized groups face is very real.

👻:
I just have to note that I don’t easily get creeped out. I’m a horror junkie through and through. There was a part in this audiobook where I jumped and felt super creeped out. Well done to the author! 🥲😂

🎧:
The voice actress did a stellar job in portraying the characters in this book. Nothing felt off or that it didn’t belong. Perfection!

This book was amazing!! Phenomenal characters that brought the story to life.
The imagery was incredibly vivid. I enjoyed the mix of paranormal and mystery.
Dark, lyrical, and deeply haunting, a blend folklore and horror into a powerful story about grief, identity, and survival.

This book is giving me quite unsettling feeling because it brings back the C19 pandemic trauma.

It centers on Cora Zheng, a Chinese-American woman who lost her sister in a tragic (alledged murder) accident. It is a well composed story explores various themes such as horror, trauma, paranoia, thriller, and Chinese beliefs in Ghost Month; how they believe there's one special month where the underworld's gate will be opened and the dead will roam into the world of the living. It also highlights how C19 pandemic affects people, especially the Chinese, how xenophobic hate crimes escalated toward the Chinese during that time.

If you love slow, thrilling paced horror story, this might be right up your alley. It's more complex than just a horror story. It has body gore, hungry ghosts, serial killer who targets chinese during the pandemic, mental illness, grief and every kind of paranoia and anxiety we felt during 2020 era. It t's gory, bloody, disgusting, creepy, spooky, a kind of horror story that will keep you awake at night.

It could be 5⭐ if the author didn't mention anything about 1sreal tbh. I don't know the author's real intention by mentioning 1sreal in this book, but with the current condition, my brain cannot help but trying to decipher the real meaning of the passages about that d4mn colonizer. (It says: ... the priest continues. "No matter how the people of 1sreal disobeyed, God's patience and forgiveness for them was infinite, for his love has no bounds.) So yeah it's my brain tries to find the underlining meaning of those words.

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng follows Cora Zeng in NYC during the beginning of the pandemic where the only work she can get is a crime scene cleaner. During this work Cora and her two coworkers start finding bats at brutal crime scenes of Asian people. Not only are they facing prejudice and hate for merely existing due to the origins of Covid but they are starting to piece together that there could be a serial killer targeting them as well. In addition Cora is dealing with crushing grief, OCD, family issues, and the stories her Chinese Aunt told her of hungry ghosts may actually be more true than she thought.

Kylie Lee Baker outdid herself with this fantastic Adult debut. I was a big fan of her YA fantasy duology, The Keeper of Night, but Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is extraordinary. The horror was so skillfully done that I’m blown away that this is her first published foray into the genre.

To be honest, I’ve really been struggling with this review because I loved every single second of it and my only coherent thought about is that everyone should read it (if you can handle the horror elements!). I was so wrapped up in this story that I barely knew what was happening around me and I stayed up way too late to finish the book. I went into it without knowing the fully synopsis so everything that happened shocked me and I could never have anticipated the ride this book took me on. Truly one of my best books of the year and has more than earned a spot in the top ten of my life.

It's NYC in the early days of the Covid pandemic and Asians are dealing with scapegoating and violence due to the president's "China Virus" nickname. A young API woman witnesses a horrifying act of racially motivated violence and ends up uncovering a spate of gruesome murders of Asian Americans and immigrants. The book is very dark but does an excellent job blending horror and mystery into a story that is , at its core, about isolation, loneliness and the fear of others. And the toxicity it breeds. The one false note was in a car crash scene, but otherwise masterfully done.

A haunting tale of grief, rememberance, COVID, culture, and fighting your inner demons.
This powerful novel begins with the unlikely protagonist, Cora Zeng- a germaphobic, hyper-anxious crime scene cleaner. Cora loses her sister in the most traumatic way, and must grapple with the loss of someone who lit the way for her, and lead her throughout life after her mother abandons her, and her father never returns from China.
Cora is such a visceral character, painted in such sharp lines, that I could physically feel her pulsing beside me. Not only that, but the nature of her disposition was so real and relatable- I remember being ill and insomniatic, scrubbing down every surface of my home with disinfectant, leaving my counters glistening with the aroma of bleach in the air.
The plot was propulsive and made this a difficult book to put down. Cora was not the only character that I was drawn to, as the author did an incredible job of blending and comparing different character personalities to make the story feel alive.
There is so much I would love to say, but ultimately, the themes of rememberance and culture were huge reasons (besides the aforementioned) that made this a 5 star for me. The connections to grief and rememberance had my heart reaching out to Cora to hold her.
A well done book in all aspects.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for an outstanding debut.
And thank you to Cora for your bravery. You are a character unlike any other.

This book did not come to play. In the first chapter Cora witnesses her sister's decapitation via subway car and it's all downhill from there. I typically avoid 2020-set novels, but after seeing so many ecstatic reviews the FOMO was too strong and I caved. As an Asian woman, Cora is a target of vicious attacks, hurled slurs, a sheep for wearing a mask. After losing her job early on in the pandemic, she finds work with a former dry cleaner-turned crime scene clean-up crew. Remember that opening chapter? Cora relives the gore every single day, washing blood from bathroom tiles, scrubbing bits of brain matter from vents. The horror of the pandemic quickly takes on a supernatural bent as Cora realizes the shadows she's been seeing aren't just a part of her imagination after all. The ghosts are real and they're hungry.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

This story really stuck with me. I appreciated how directly it addressed the rise in anti-Asian hate during Covid—there was no tiptoeing around it, and the commentary felt powerful and honest.

I also loved how the cultural elements were woven in naturally. It didn’t feel forced or stereotypical—just real. And I especially appreciated that Cora’s path wasn’t the usual “Asian in STEM” storyline. Her life felt layered and true to who she was, not a box to check.

Overall, it’s a timely and meaningful read that I’m glad I picked up.

Fellow Simmons MS Graduate! I thought I knew what to expect from this book, but it ended up totally surprising me! I loved every bit of it. This book isn't just good, it's important.

This book dealt with a difficult subject in such an interesting way. The story kept me so engaged that I just couldn’t stop listening/reading it. There were moments where I wondered where the situation was heading. Them towards the end everything seems to happen all at once and it’s so intense. The narrator really did a great job in giving Cora a voice.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC and ALC!

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker is a haunting and visceral horror novel that delves deep into the trauma, grief, and racism experienced by Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Set against the backdrop of a New York City gripped by fear and uncertainty, the story follows Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner who becomes entangled in a series of brutal murders targeting Asian women.

Cora’s journey is both supernatural and deeply human. After witnessing the tragic death of her sister, Delilah, who is pushed in front of a train, Cora begins to experience eerie occurrences.

Baker masterfully blends elements of Chinese folklore with contemporary horror, creating a narrative that is both terrifying and poignant. The ghosts in the story are not just supernatural entities but representations of unresolved grief and societal neglect. The novel’s exploration of systemic racism, xenophobia, and the fetishization of Asian women adds depth to its chilling premise.

The novel’s pacing is relentless, with moments of horror that will leave you breathless. Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng offers a unique blend of supernatural terror and social commentary. It is a must read for fans of horror that challenges conventions and delves into the complexities of identity and trauma.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner haunted by her sister’s unsolved murder and the killer’s final words: “bat eater.” When a string of eerie deaths strikes Chinatown and a shadowy figure stalks her steps, Cora begins to suspect something sinister is targeting East Asian women—and it might be coming for her next.

I gave Bateater and Other Names for Cora Zeng 4 stars. This story has such a strong premise—an eerie blend of true crime obsession, cultural folklore, and unsettling horror that really gets under your skin. The atmosphere is incredibly well done, and the creepy moments hit hard. I especially appreciated the cultural elements woven into the narrative; they grounded the horror in something uniquely personal and specific, which made it feel more real.

The characters are dynamic, especially Cora herself, though I’ll admit she was tough for me to connect with. We spend a lot of time inside her head, and while that adds depth, there were moments that felt a bit drawn out for my taste. I found myself getting a little bored during those internal monologues and moments, but that’s more of a personal preference than a fault of the writing.

Still, the story delivers on both chills and substance, and it’s one of the more memorable books I have read this year. If you like horror that’s tangled up with identity, obsession, and true crime, this one’s definitely worth reading!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

This book is really hard to categorize. I would not call it a horror story persay - it crosses multiple genres. This is a story about Asian American identity, friendship, mental illness and found family. There is a serial killer, there are ghosts, and there's violence against Asians, which makes it really tragic. So it's partially a crime thriller and partially a ghost story, but it's also a tragedy. There are even some farcical elements in it. For example, Cora's friend Yifei and her relationship to her roommate is ridiculous - funny, but also racist and tragic. And Cora's Auntie Zeng is like a caricature of a Chinese auntie, but in the very best way.

I actually had to look up the term "Bat Eater" because I had never heard it. Apparently it's a derogatory term toward Chinese people from the Wuhan province, where the COVID virus originated. The author used this skillfully by incorporating bats into the story, which added to the horror element.

Throughout the book, Cora is desperately trying to find her way - abandoned by both parents, living with her older half sister despite their complicated relationship, recovering from being hospitalized for mental illness, making a living as a crime scene cleaner, and straddling both the Chinese and white sides of her heritage (learning about making food for hungry ghosts, meanwhile also confessing at church). She and her coworkers discover that there is a serial killer who is targeting Asian women, and possibly coming after her next. Her coworkers are both Chinese and have their own back stories, and just as Cora starts to get close with them, the story really picks up. There is just so much to unpack.

To add my own perspective, I am an Asian American female doctor who worked before, during and now after the COVID pandemic, so this book really hit home for me. Primarily, the Asian hate is so strong in this book that it's a bit terrifying. But also ... the numbers of people who died, the heightened anxiety that Cora experiences every day because of her OCD, the political issues with masking and social distancing...it brought back the collective trauma we all experienced at the time. We did the best we could with the information we had, but it caused a lot of emotional damage to a lot of people. I am not even from NYC, but if I were, I would be especially traumatized reading this.

Anyhow, to get back to the book, it was very well written and thought provoking, and kept me turning the pages. I both laughed and teared up at various points in the story. I have never read anything like it. Wow! Job well done, Kylie!

Trigger warnings for the reader: gore, racism, hate crimes.
There was some weird spacing in the version that was sent to my Kindle, which was distracting, but tolerable.

I knew I would love this book when I read the synopsis last fall. But boy, did it deliver—haunting, gruesome, and unforgettable!

Bat Eater is more than a horror novel—it explores grief, trauma, racism, and justice. Set during COVID-19, the story captures the real-life xenophobia East Asians faced. While the social horror feels disturbingly real, Baker weaves in other horror elements—hungry ghosts and a serial killer—to write a chilling, layered story of vengeance and justice.

I loved the use of Chinese folklore! Rituals like burning joss paper and feeding hungry ghosts are not just atmospheric; they add a cultural richness that we rarely see in mainstream horror.

In addition to Cora (our FMC), Auntie Zeng and Yifei stood out as memorable characters. I couldn't get enough of Auntie Z: part folkloric guide and part badass ghostbuster. Yifei also provided much needed levity that balanced Cora's heaviness. However, Yifei's heartbreaking confession at the end—ugh! That really hit me hard!

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Natalie Naudus (a favorite of mine) while reading along with the physical copy. Naudus breathes life into Cora’s panic, grief, and doubt. Her performance is truly top-notch. The physical book was great for revisiting Auntie Z’s chapters, which provided more depth about the folklore.

If you haven’t picked this up yet, now’s the time—especially since May is AAPI Heritage Month. Bat Eater is dark, meaningful, and deeply original.

Book review: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng 5/5 ⭐️

“But not everyone has dreams. Some people just are, the way that trees and rocks and rivers are just there without a reason, the rest of the world moving around them.”

WOW what a book, it has everything gore, love and hate, grief, fear, heart, religion, trauma, culture, racism, and a plot that pulls it all together. I did not expect to love it as much as I did.

In March 2020, I was living in Manhattan, specifically Chinatown, and the author nailed the atmosphere perfectly. Though I moved out shortly after the pandemic started, I remember hearing the slurs against my neighbors and the accusations that they started the virus. That’s where my experience of the pandemic in relation to this novel ends. However, the author makes you feel, a fraction of, the experience of Cora, and the Asian community had. She writes bone chilling gore, that doesn’t take away from beautiful prose, or the plot. They all stand strong on their own and work extremely well together, and complement the Chinese traditions and folklore the author weaves throughout (introducing not only myself but Cora to certain heritage aspects).

Absolutely loved and will be getting a physical copy of this to read again.