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A Horror Mystery of a Chinese American Crime Scene Cleaner, Serial Killers and Hungry Ghosts
by Kylie Lee Baker
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.
"An adult debut that frightens to the bone, deftly illustrating trauma and paranoia in aching prose and with perfectly timed grim humor." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Kylie Lee Baker's blood-soaked, Chinese folklore–inspired adult debut deftly explores weighty themes of grief, mental illness, collective memory, and Sinophobia (particularly its rise during the COVID-19 pandemic), building as she does to a pulse-pounding finale that will linger long after readers have turned the final page. Essential reading from a new voice in horror." —Booklist (starred review)
"Baker successfully uses fear, both supernatural and human, to shine a spotlight on anti-Asian hate. Fans of creepy ghost stories and social horror will want to snap this up." —Publishers Weekly
"Bat Eater and Other Names For Cora Zeng possessed me from the first page and haunted me for long after the last. The visceral emotionality of Baker's writing and the specificity of New York through the Asian American experience makes for a powerful exploration of loneliness, community, and belonging in the face of hatred. Singular in every way, this book dug its claws into me and would not let go." —Ling Ling Huang, author of Natural Beauty
"There's a lovely touch of humor intricately woven throughout this otherwise brutal, tense, and daring story. I found myself totally enraptured with these characters, horrified at times and unable to pry my eyes away from the page. For some, there's such delight in the thrill of terror. If that's true for you, Kylie Lee Baker's exceptional book will carve a permanent grin into the face of even the most discriminating horror critic. Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng has everything I look for in a compelling horror novel—strangeness, sensitivity, and empathy. This is easily one of the most exciting and unique books I've read in years." —Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
This information about Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kylie Lee Baker is the author of young adult and adult novels. Her writing is informed by her heritage (Japanese, Chinese, and Irish) and her experiences living abroad. She has a B.A. in Creative Writing and Spanish and an M.S. in Library and Information Science. Visit her online at www.kylieleebaker.com.
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