Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by uutopicaa
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
3.0
First, I want to thank Harlequin Audio for providing me with a copy of this novel. The following review reflects my honest thoughts on it.
I requested this book because I loved the title, though I didn’t know much about it aside from the fact that it was a horror novel set during the COVID pandemic.
The story follows Cora, a young woman from a Chinese family who works as a crime scene cleaner. Cora is obsessed with cleanliness and avoiding contact with any viruses or bacteria. She is also haunted by a terrifying ghost, which she believes is the spirit of her sister, who was killed in front of her not long ago.
As Cora goes about her days, trying to avoid encounters with the ghost, she and her work crew begin to notice that a disturbing number of Asian women are being killed in New York City and there´s always a dead bat with them. And before they realize it, they find themselves drawn into an investigation, as the killer might also be the one responsible for Cora’s sister’s death.
This is a horror novel that explores themes of loneliness, discrimination, hatred, and the scapegoating of minorities to deflect society’s larger issues. It’s a tragic story, not a happy one, and it is definitely gore.
Did I enjoy it? Honestly, I’m not sure.
I appreciated the book as a whole. Some scenes and concepts are particularly good, and the cast of characters is fantastic.
However, in certain areas, the book falls short. For instance, there are moments where the paranormal elements could have used more explanation, but instead, they either go unexplained or contradict what was established earlier in the story. I also wasn’t fond of the vague setting. The book is set in New York City, yet it never really feels like it. The subway stations are unnamed, the parks are never identified and there’s no real sense of place. It could have been any city. The narrative often describes things like “we took the subway to the nearest park,” which makes the setting feel distant. I would have liked to feel like I was in NYC. The decision to name the city but not describe it was a bit odd.
I did enjoy the plot twists and the ending, though a couple of events left me feeling sad because they seemed unnecessary. It felt like they were included just for shock value or to heighten the gore, rather than moving the plot forward. There were also some scenes that didn’t make sense to me, like one where Cora is cleaning a crypt near a church (I won’t give away more details than that).
Overall, it was an interesting book with some cool elements, but it had the potential to be so much better than it turned out to be. I almost wish this had been a beta manuscript, still needing some final edits.
Do I recommend it? Only if you’re a fan of gory books. As a mystery, it didn’t fully satisfy me.
I requested this book because I loved the title, though I didn’t know much about it aside from the fact that it was a horror novel set during the COVID pandemic.
The story follows Cora, a young woman from a Chinese family who works as a crime scene cleaner. Cora is obsessed with cleanliness and avoiding contact with any viruses or bacteria. She is also haunted by a terrifying ghost, which she believes is the spirit of her sister, who was killed in front of her not long ago.
As Cora goes about her days, trying to avoid encounters with the ghost, she and her work crew begin to notice that a disturbing number of Asian women are being killed in New York City and there´s always a dead bat with them. And before they realize it, they find themselves drawn into an investigation, as the killer might also be the one responsible for Cora’s sister’s death.
This is a horror novel that explores themes of loneliness, discrimination, hatred, and the scapegoating of minorities to deflect society’s larger issues. It’s a tragic story, not a happy one, and it is definitely gore.
Did I enjoy it? Honestly, I’m not sure.
I appreciated the book as a whole. Some scenes and concepts are particularly good, and the cast of characters is fantastic.
However, in certain areas, the book falls short. For instance, there are moments where the paranormal elements could have used more explanation, but instead, they either go unexplained or contradict what was established earlier in the story. I also wasn’t fond of the vague setting. The book is set in New York City, yet it never really feels like it. The subway stations are unnamed, the parks are never identified and there’s no real sense of place. It could have been any city. The narrative often describes things like “we took the subway to the nearest park,” which makes the setting feel distant. I would have liked to feel like I was in NYC. The decision to name the city but not describe it was a bit odd.
I did enjoy the plot twists and the ending, though a couple of events left me feeling sad because they seemed unnecessary. It felt like they were included just for shock value or to heighten the gore, rather than moving the plot forward. There were also some scenes that didn’t make sense to me, like one where Cora is cleaning a crypt near a church (I won’t give away more details than that).
Overall, it was an interesting book with some cool elements, but it had the potential to be so much better than it turned out to be. I almost wish this had been a beta manuscript, still needing some final edits.
Do I recommend it? Only if you’re a fan of gory books. As a mystery, it didn’t fully satisfy me.