Description

By (author) Baker, Kylie Lee

Short /annotation:

BAT EATER follows a biracial woman haunted by both her own inner trauma and hungry ghosts as she”s entangled in a series of murders in NYC”s Chinatown.

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”WOW. This book is now burned into my brain for so many reasons! I don”t recommend you read right before you go to sleep . . .” ??

? ”Haunted, absurd, terrifying, ridiculous, and full of hungry ghosts. This book shook me in all the best ways”
GRADY HENDRIX ?
? ”Essential reading from a new voice in horror”
BOOKLIST ?
? ”Gory”
PAUL TREMBLAY ?
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”Bat Eater will swoop in like a bat out of hell, swallow you whole and leave no crumbs”
ALICE SLATER ?
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”Easily one of the most exciting and unique books I”ve read in years”
ERIC LAROCCA ?

Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner. But the bloody messes don”t bother her, not when she”s already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister being pushed in front of a train.

But the killer was never caught, and Cora is still haunted by his last words: bat eater.

These days, nobody can reach Cora: not her aunt who wants her to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, not her weird colleagues, and especially not the slack-jawed shadow lurking around her doorframe. After all, it can”t be real – can it?

After a series of unexplained killings in Chinatown, Cora believes that someone might be targeting East Asian women, and something might be targeting Cora herself.

Soon, she will learn . . . you can”t just ignore hungry ghosts.

NEW HORROR FROM KYLIE LEE BAKER COMING 2026 . . . JAPANESE GOTHIC

? ”A profound reminder of the true horrors that lurk in the world”
TORI BOVALINO ?
? ”A serial killer mystery and a heartbreaking portrayal of grief”
KIRSTY LOGAN ?
? ”This book dug its claws into me and would not let go”
LING LING HUANG ?
? ”Body horror and female rage fiction combine in a powerful novel that will leave you quaking”
ALMA KATSU ?
? ”A poignant, searing portrait of the hostility and violence that plagued pandemic-era NYC”
VERONICA G. HENRY ?

BAT EATER WAS A NUMBER 4 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WEEK ENDING 09/02/2025

Review quote:
This is what it felt like to live in New York City during lockdown: haunted, absurd, terrifying, ridiculous, and full of hungry ghosts.
This book shook me in all the best ways

Review quote:
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

Review quote:
Bat Eater is
a compelling, gory, ghostly romp, and it”s a righteous battle cry aimed into the racist heart of the pandemic hellscape.
You won”t be able to stop turning pages while rooting for Cora

Review quote:
I smashed through Bat Eater –
shocking, visceral and haunted by more than ghosts: trauma, rage, grief, racism, crime scene clean ups and COVID paranoia.
Bat Eater will swoop in like a bat out of hell, swallow you whole and leave no crumbs

Review quote:
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!

Review quote:

Bat Eater possessed me from the first page and haunted me for long after the last. The viscera