Bat Eater 

 

Entering into this tale of horror you smack face first into the horrific death of Dehlila. Much like how she is cut short. A misleading intro. Excellently executed. 

 

This definitely expanded my knowledge of racial slurs. Stuff I’d heard in passing but never realized what it was. Unsettling. Bat eater for example. Absolutely in love with the dark humor throughout this book. Spot on, makes you laugh then shudder internally, “oh that was dark.” Cora is stuck in a bizarre state of trauma. Her sisters gruesome death and subsequent job has her essentially reliving it as well as an awful glimpse of her own death as the cadavers of conveniently Asian (doubt Chinese only) are coming up in her work AO as a crime scene cleaner. 

 

I don’t know how to feel about the ghost. Unsettling to say the least. Well executed but unsettling to read and envision. 

set during the covid-19 pandemic, the novel explores the rise of anti-asian hate crimes and overall rise in anti-asian hate that followed. cora zeng is a crime scene cleaner who watched her sister get pushed in front of a train and die in the very first chapter of this book, the man shouting “bat eater” as he did so. the novel follows her as she is left to deal with the grief and trauma of that event while still trying to live her life, going to work and trying to survive the pandemic. if that isn’t enough, the crime scenes she’s cleaning up have her and her coworkers wondering if a serial killer is rising in new york city, with bats showing up at the scene, and she’s been witnessing some strange activities… the hungry ghosts, maybe, that her aunt talks about every august.

this is the first horror book i’ve read in a while that really gave me chills and had me scared of the dark. the way that kylie lee baker writes scenes is beautiful and horrifying at the same time. every crime scene that cora had to clean up or mention of blood and guts left me feeling squeamish and uncomfortable, while the hungry ghosts that lie in wait in the dark spaces cora sees had me anxious. it was a book i both wanted to put down to give myself a break, but also didn’t want to stop because of just how good it was. the plot being put into covid was poignant, even to this day, and didn’t feel like a gimmick an author threw in just because or thrown in lazily as just the background to the story as i’ve seen in other books released post-pandemic. no, covid-19 and the rise in anti-asian hate were very intrinsically linked and it is shown throughout the novel. it’s amazingly done, even if a bit hard to get through (as many social commentary horror books are) and i couldn’t recommend it enough. i can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy.

a huge thank you to netgalley and harlequin trade publishing for the arc of this ebook in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I was so excited when I was granted access to this book because I love mysteries/thrillers combined with more important themes of social injustices. It’s true that the most horrific thrillers are those that twist in elements of real life horrors. This book took on an often overlooked aspect of the pandemic, which was the perspective of the pandemic from minorities, particularly Asian Americans and the blatant hate and discrimination that they experienced, but most people seem to have forgotten. 

Not only did this book give me some insight on a different perspective of the pandemic, but it also managed to do it in a thrilling, engaging, and at times terrifying way. There were times where I had to put the book down and come back to it later because it felt too real, and there were also times where I didn’t want to stop reading because I loved the dynamic between the three main characters and it had me laughing. I felt like there was something for everyone with the different personality types of the three main characters, yet their characters all meshed so well together because of their similar experiences and insecurities. I also liked how Cora’s experiences with racism and xenophobia weren’t just isolated to her, but there was always an underlying theme of this is experienced across a whole community of people; it really underlined how racism is a systemic problem, perpetuated by politics, the police system, and the media. I would highly recommend and gave this book five stars because it made me feel a range of emotions and had me invested from the very first chapter until the end. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited when I got approved for the arc of this novel. The cover is beautiful and the concept behind this book is EXTREMELY relatable being someone who is Chinese herself. I have experienced the Anti- Asian hate crimes that were caused by the pandemic that the main character in this book also goes through. Thank you to the author's note that expresses this frustration.

I have read both The Scarlet Alchemist and its sequel and immensely enjoyed it. I was intrigued to see how the author would tackle horror. She did give us a taste of horror in her last fantasy novel. Those of you who have read it would know.

The book was both scary and addicting to read. There is quite a bit of body horror in here. Being someone who cannot even watch horror movies, I was sucked into this world every time I opened the book. There is a mystery involving a killer in this book that the main character Cora is trying to solve and she is joined by her friends/co workers Harvey and YiFei. I love the relationship between these three people. Their interactions throughout the book were some of the lighter moments.

Cora is a complex main character who is dealing with a lot of emotions. Sometimes she cannot express those emotions into words and communicate that to others. I found her very relatable at times. There were a few plot points in this novel that shocked me. The author does not hold back. I gasped when I came across a certain part.

The author's writing is as good as I remember it from The Scarlet Alchemist and it's so easy to read. I am excited to read the author's future works and I would recommend this to people who enjoy reading horror or someone who wants to read something different.