Title: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

Author: Kylie Lee Baker

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Eater-Other-Names-Cora-Zeng/dp/0778368459

Summary

“A compelling, gory, ghostly romp.”
—Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie

“This is what it felt like to live in New York City during lockdown: haunted, absurd, terrifying, ridiculous, and full of hungry ghosts.”
—Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House

In this explosive horror novel, a woman is haunted by inner trauma, hungry ghosts, and a serial killer as she confronts the brutal violence experienced by East Asians during the pandemic.

Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. But none of that seems so terrible when she’s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister, Delilah, being pushed in front of a train.

Before fleeing the scene, the murderer shouted two words: bat eater.

So the bloody messes don’t really bother Cora—she’s more bothered by the germs on the subway railing, the bare hands of a stranger, the hidden viruses in every corner, and the bite marks on her coffee table. Of course, ever since Delilah was killed in front of her, Cora can’t be sure what’s real and what’s in her head.

She pushes away all feelings and ignores the advice of her aunt to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open. But she can’t ignore the dread in her stomach as she keeps finding bat carcasses at crime scenes, or the scary fact that all her recent cleanups have been the bodies of East Asian women.

As Cora will soon learn, you can’t just ignore hungry ghosts.

For fans of Stephen Graham Jones and Gretchen Felker-Martin, Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a wildly original, darkly humorous, and subversive contemporary novel from a striking new voice in horror.

My Review

5/5 Stars

This book was so beautiful and so brutal at the same time.

Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner, struggles with anxiety after witnessing the senseless murder of her sister, Delilah. Who can blame her? No one was arrested for the crime, and Cora blames herself daily for not being able to do more. In the wake of the tragedy, she struggles to find herself and her place in a society that’s wrought with fear and racism in the wake of the Covid-19 scare.

While all the characters felt like real people, I really related to Cora. I also suffer from anxiety so her internal monologues were easy for me to understand and place myself in her shoes. I adored her character development, especially toward the end of the book. Something warmed in me when she finally stood up for herself, and I was so proud of her lol.

This book explored the ugly parts of human nature in a very honest way. Racism is such a huge problem in the United States, and unfortunately, that leaks into all parts of society, including the people who are supposed to keep us safe like law enforcement and those in positions of political power. [Spoiler: While I was sad that Cora never found her sister’s killer, I thought the way the author went about illustrating the situation behind this in a very realistic way because unfortunately, a lot of cases for people in minority groups are often swept under the rug because of racism so this was a very honest and frustrating look into a broken society.] I also thought the book explored the idea of the bystander effect and the parasocial relationship that people form with others online that can lead to awful results.

The addition of the hungry ghosts added an interesting layer to the complexity of the story too. To me, it was the perfect symbolism for the way that trauma and memories linger not only within people but in places too. When ugly things happen, I think people have a habit of ignoring them and pretending that they’re fine when they’re not. The ghosts really represent the fact that just because you ignore the bad things in the world, it doesn’t make them go away.

Not only is this book amazing in its concept, but the narrative and insight provided are so, so important to think about. That’s why this is one of my top three reads of the year. Seriously, if you don’t mind a book that’s going to drag you through all the feels, this is a must read.