Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

De: Kylie Lee Baker

Narrado por: Natalie Naudus

"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.

©2025 Kylie Lee Baker (P)2025 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Wonderfully enthralling

The book itself it so gripping and sad and scary. The narration is amazing. Natalie Naudus is amazing.

Fantastic

Creepy, gory, heart wrenching, funny, thoroughly entertaining. I binged the whole thing in a few days.

Medium

Earth shattering? No. Thought provoking, yes. Unfinished? Leaves reader hanging in for more? Also yes and yes.

Not Quite For Me

I love Baker's writing, and I adored "Keeper of Night". This one just didn't do it for me. While the inherent f*ed-up-ness I know and love from Baker was very much present in this book, I struggled to connect with Cora's insecurities and her general lack of personality. The setting and the anti-Asian sentiment felt heavy-handed, too. Given my recollection of the news around the pandemic, I know this didn't come out of a vacuum, and I suspect life in America's big cities (and cities outside the US) was/is often this colored with hate, I just think it was ham-fisted in this story. However, I'm not of Asian descent, so my opinion counts for little on the topic. The concept of hungry ghosts was awesome and new to me; I'll be researching this facet of Chinese culture further. It was superbly narrated, too.

PHENOMENAL

Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng was an amazing ride. Baker has written something truly heart wrenching. I want to write an entire essay on how truly beautiful, heartbreaking, and terrifying this book managed to be. I had to take a couple breaks due to how heavy it could get. Phenomenal piece of art, and the performance of the narrator was top notch. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

not what I expected, but absolutely LOVED!

"Don't let your empathy stop at the borders of your own culture"

This book was not at all what I expected. There were themes of honoring that dead, differences of cultures and supernatural and enduring when the literal world is against you. . .

This is a good read and for those of us who lived through the pandemic and the changes of the world we now live in. I hope you can find some connection ,or at the very least be inspired to always be better.

Awesome

Spooky with a great message. I recommend this book. United States of America has a lot of issues with race that still need to be worked on.

Leaned into this book

This audio book is so well performed, and the story so well written, I finished crocheting a granny square sweater while listening. I didn't want to miss any of the story. or the emotions, by walking, or driving while listening.

It isn't just a horror novel because of ghosts, it is a horror novel, also, because of humans. It is one I will think over for a long time.

Unique horror

I really enjoyed this book. It’s sad and funny at times and horrific at other times. It has a good anti racist theme to it and really paints a picture of what Asian people went through in NYC during early COVID.

A ghost story I didn’t expect!

What a great read! This one is worth the read and then some. Just wow 💯💯💯