Horror • Mystery • Supernatural • Folklore
Expected Publication • 29 April 2025

Thank you @_mira_books_ @htp_hive & @harlequin_audio for the free ALC and e-book.

·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ This will be in contention for top Horror of 2025 · ←˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀

From the opening chapter, you can’t look away. A book that never pulls its punches, provides gripping social commentary, and blends Chinese lore and superstition against a backdrop of stereotypes and violence toward Asian Americans during the so-called “China virus”.

Cora Zeng is unemployed and needs rent money so she becomes a CSI-style crime scene cleaner. It’s one of the few things that she can stomach, ironically, as it’s impersonal and she can hide behind her mask and hazmat suit. As she and her crew respond to calls, a pattern emerges — though the deaths take different forms, the killer has a calling card involving bat entrails and body parts.

Cora is not OK but she’s getting by. She suffers from a few things, predominantly fear and PTSD following an assault and murder she witnesses and also some form of germaphobia/OCD. She’s also either losing her mind or food/drink is going missing from her apartment [where she lives alone]. Or it could be a restless spirit who hasn’t moved on to the afterlife, if you believe her Aunty Z, who is an expert on hungry ghosts.

I usually shy away from books relating to COVID-19 but this one is different. It’s not just about “what we all went through” “together”. This will punch you in the gut, make you laugh, terrify, and make you think hard about racism and domestic terrorism in our country.

‧₊˚🎧⊹ Narration of audiobook by Natalie Naudus was on point! This is the way to read this book!

TW: Murder, Gore, Misogyny, Assault, Racism, Racial Slurs