thank you netgalley & hachette australia and new zealand for providing me a copy of this book in return for a honest review 🥰

this was such a powerful book and i was not expecting that at all.

bat eater follows cora zeng, a wasian twenty-something trying to navigate her life during the covid-19 pandemic. cora lives with her sister, until she’s tragically pushed in front of a train right in front of cora’s eyes. suddenly her life is upended, and she becomes a crime scene cleaner. but suddenly cora witnesses an uptick of murdered east asian women, and as she becomes entangled with something living in her home, cora seeks to find out what’s happening to her fellow “bat eaters”.

cora is an amazing protagonist. she feels realistic in so many ways, such as how she approaches the “roommate” she has, but also in general. all her decisions feel like they make sense, and she doesn’t do anything out of character just to further the plot, which i really appreciate. also!!! hello!!! cora is great ocd representation!!! yes yes it’s the ‘cLiChE’ contamination ocd, but still, cora’s paranoia felt so raw, especially compounded during a pandemic. i was very much like her (until i caught covid for the first time) so i very much related to cora, which always adds extra enjoyment to a book for me. the character development she undergoes throughout the story also feels very natural, and honestly i forgot at times i was reading a work of fiction and that cora wasn’t a real person. that’s how natural she felt. 

speaking of covid, im usually one who hates when books mention it. it completely breaks my immersion and honestly im not a fan….. usually. this book does not follow that pattern for me. the entire plot hinges on covid-19, so it’s not just some stupid throwaway line which is what i hate, but instead its immeshed in the plot flawlessly. and i mean the entire plot DOES follow covid-19, because without that, we wouldn’t have delilah being killed due to being a “bat eater”, or the bat carcasses found at the east-asian women’s crime scene, or even the rise of anti-asian hate in this book make any sense. i liked seeing the steady progression of these plot elements, and the book didn’t feel fantastical because what it was talking about *did* happen to asians worldwide during covid-19. i really enjoyed how the themes of racism surrounding the pandemic were explored, and the character’s actions and reactions to it mimicked reality, which i liked. because events did mimic reality, i didn’t feel like they were being exaggerated in this book. 

i’ll be honest and say i didn’t care about most of the side characters. maybe because i loved cora so much, who knows. but yifei is a queen. not only was she integral to the plot in, yet again, a way that felt natural, but she was funny, caring, knowledgeable, and mysterious. i also liked that yifei didn’t take any shit, and she felt like a great foil to cora — one woman too scared to do anything for fear of being targeted, and one woman who’s doing whatever she wants because she’ll never know when her time is up. i really liked that. the other side characters i kind of didn’t care about. i mean the only other significant characters were harvey & aunt z, and they were ok, but didn’t pop out to me like yifei did. 

now honestly, i only have one “gripe” with this book. it’s not even a gripe. i just wanted more horror. this felt maybe more like magical realism to me? idk. there defo were some horror elements, but i expected not only more horror, but for the horror to be more. you know?

also, ill be honest, the plot is… difficult. it was for me, but i can see it not being for everyone. i was able to latch on to cora so quickly, i straight up didn’t even care what we were doing plot-wise. cora was so engaging to me honestly i forgot about the entire serial killer plot for a while 😭 like only at the end i was like “oh yeah that plot! omg!” not to say i didn’t like it! i did like the serial killer plot! but there is a lot going on story wise at times, what with the hungry ghost festival, the serial killer, the crime scenes, the pandemic, hate crimes, cora’s ocd, cora’s feelings towards delilah, etc. not to say i felt like it was too much going on, but i feel like people looking for a book focused mainly on one of those elements or plot points won’t enjoy this, as cora is the anchor, and everything else kind of works around her. i still enjoyed it tho! 

bat eater is a horror book in many ways. but the true horror in this book is found not only in the treatment of asian people during the covid-19 pandemic, but in the horror of death, the afterlife, and achieving justice for those wronged in life. it’s not only a novel with mystery and gore and death, but a novel about learning to be your own person, and letting go. 

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng follows twenty-something Cora as she works cleaning scenes. When Cora and her friends notice a series of deaths where mutilated bats are left behind with the victims, the trio begins to suspect foul play and begin their own research into a potential serial killer.

While all this is happening, Cora also experiences a supernatural horror - hungry ghosts are stalking her in the night and she has to find a way to get rid of them. With supernatural entities and human killers around every corner, how are Cora and company supposed to make it out alive? 

I'm not usually a fan of books that revolve around COVID, but this novel felt like a perfect balance between fiction and reality relating to the emotions and experiences of COVID without using it as a crutch - the story flows and stands on it's own.

The characters of this book were also very real. I was rooting for them the whole time and (spoiler alert) each loss felt absolutely gut wrenching. While the story started out slow it picked up momentum at the halfway mark and kept me hooked with both the ghost and the serial killer storyline to the very end. 

There's a risk with any pandemic novel that it will date but this is great and (sadly) still relevant.

It's a serial killer supernatural horror, but also a story about grief and how we adapt (or don't) when a fundamental part of your existence is lost, it's a story about masking and isolating ourselves from the world (figuratively and literally) with recurrent motifs of masks and of scrubbing away contaminants, and it's a story about racism.

It's brutal and visceral and very good.

A horrifyingly necessary read. Kylie Lee Baker made me so uncomfortable, so jumpy, I felt like I had to sleep with the lights on, the hate the characters receive makes your stomach feel hollow and your heart like lead. And because of that, this book is 110% a must read. 

Cora is a fascinating character to live this story through. She is a rightfully anxious narrator walking through this horrific world, while also coming to blows with the state of the world, and the world beyond. . . It was all just brilliant. 

This book is my literal worst nightmare and I loved every second of it. The pacing was perfect for this kind of thriller, the writing was poignant; so many lines from Lee Baker had me sitting in my chair just thinking for several minutes. The side relationships she has with her team was a terrific addition (I liked Yifei the most), they provided some lovely humorous elements to the novel (which I really needed haha love my lil ghostbusters). Cora’s grief was probably one of the hardest aspects to read, I think because of how it was written. You don’t ever want to experience what she went through and her grief, guilt, and complex feelings, are visceral, something you can feel down to the marrow in your bones. And the plot twist. Just?!?!

 Truly just wow. 

CW: Asian Hate, Xenophobia, Sibling Death, Gore, COVID-19, Pandemic, Mental Illness, Racism, Violence, Sexual Harassment, Animal Cruelty, Murder, Grief, Death

Immense thanks to HTP and NetGalley for this ARC. 

My good god this was so good! 
Bat Eater follows Cora Zeng who has literally just seen her sister get brutally murdered in front of her. Cora begins working as a crime scene cleaner but when a pattern of dead asian women starts to emerge, Cora and her co-workers Harvey and Yifei set out to get to the bottom of it while dealing with hungry ghosts roaming the city! 

I absolutely loved this! I haven't read anything by Kylie before and I was instantly hooked by her writing style. This novel is the perfect blend of Horror, Social Commentary and Thriller but beautifully blended with a dark sense of humour threaded throughout. 
This novel deals a lot with racism towards the asian community, focusing on the start of the covid outbreak. With all the different aspects of the story, covid, murders, hungry ghosts etc I was worried to begin with that there would be too many elements and it would get confusing but all the fractions worked so well together often enhancing the stories as storylines overlapped. The horror parts of this novel were incredible, the imagery of the hungry ghosts was intense and had me turning the pages so fast. Something I really liked about this novel is the way Kylie wrote about the sisters, Cora obviously loved her sister but wasn't afraid to "speak ill of the dead" as the novel puts it - some-one doesn't stop being a dick just because they are dead right? 

This is a gory and harrowing read that kept me hooked from page one, my copy is so highlighted it's actually silly. Thank you to Hodder for the proof - what a way to start the reading year!

I have always been a huge horror and thriller film buff, yet I don’t often delve into books within those genres. When I discovered that Kylie Lee Baker was releasing a new horror novel, I immediately added it to my reading list. Having been captivated by her Scarlet Alchemist Duo earlier this year, which was truly outstanding, was so excited to get another book so soon. With Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, Baker has firmly established herself as an auto-buy / read Author for me!

This story unfolds through the eyes of our main character, Cora Zeng, as she navigates her trauma and sorrow after witnessing her sister, Delilah, be pushed in front of a train in a hate crime. Just before this horrific act, the assailant whispers "Bat Eater" and vanishes without a trace. After a brief time jump, we find Cora employed as a Crime Scene Cleaner, meticulously cleaning up the violence and bloodshed left behind by her fellow New Yorkers. As she continues her work, Cora begins to recognise a troubling pattern: Chinese people, particularly women, are being targeted by a notorious serial killer who leaves bats as his signature.

Cora grapples with her circumstances in a city where indifference seems to reign, all while coping with the loss of her sister, whom she always felt overshadowed by. Additionally, she struggles with her own cleanliness and germ-related anxieties in the face of a Global Pandemic. Cora's family issues extend beyond her sister's death, revealing a strained relationship with both her parents: a mother involved in a cult and a father who has remarried and relocated to China. We also meet two aunts; one who brings Cora to church on Sundays and another who tries to help her fend off Hungry Ghosts and spirits.

With limited family support when Cora begins to see spirits and ghosts, she reaches out to her two colleagues, Yifei and Harvey, who quickly become her friends. The connection among these three characters evoked a whirlwind of emotions for me, and it was undoubtedly one of my favourite elements of the book. Each character was uniquely different, and it warmed my heart to see Cora proven wrong; instead of rejecting her or labelling her as crazy, they believed in her and offered their love and friendship. They each shared snippets of their own lives and personal traumas, deepening their bond.

The stark and authentic portrayal of racism, alongside the appalling Sinophobia during a global pandemic, seamlessly blended with ghostly elements and a chilling murder mystery, was executed flawlessly. This book struck a deep chord, as the real-life issues intermingling with the ghostly narrative felt even more horrifying than the presence of the hungry ghosts themselves. I found myself in tears through the last three chapters, and I sobbed while reading the author's note. I urge anyone who picks up this book not to overlook the final pages, as they truly enhance the overall narrative that Kylie conveyed.

Arc from Netgalley all thoughts are my own.
This book was absolutely incredible, a gut punch of a book, that had you chuckling one moment and crying the next, beautiful and haunting.