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A review by jamieleepilk
Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
My good god this was so good!
Bat Eater follows Cora Zeng who has literally just seen her sister get brutally murdered in front of her. Cora begins working as a crime scene cleaner but when a pattern of dead asian women starts to emerge, Cora and her co-workers Harvey and Yifei set out to get to the bottom of it while dealing with hungry ghosts roaming the city!
I absolutely loved this! I haven't read anything by Kylie before and I was instantly hooked by her writing style. This novel is the perfect blend of Horror, Social Commentary and Thriller but beautifully blended with a dark sense of humour threaded throughout.
This novel deals a lot with racism towards the asian community, focusing on the start of the covid outbreak. With all the different aspects of the story, covid, murders, hungry ghosts etc I was worried to begin with that there would be too many elements and it would get confusing but all the fractions worked so well together often enhancing the stories as storylines overlapped. The horror parts of this novel were incredible, the imagery of the hungry ghosts was intense and had me turning the pages so fast. Something I really liked about this novel is the way Kylie wrote about the sisters, Cora obviously loved her sister but wasn't afraid to "speak ill of the dead" as the novel puts it - some-one doesn't stop being a dick just because they are dead right?
This is a gory and harrowing read that kept me hooked from page one, my copy is so highlighted it's actually silly. Thank you to Hodder for the proof - what a way to start the reading year!
Bat Eater follows Cora Zeng who has literally just seen her sister get brutally murdered in front of her. Cora begins working as a crime scene cleaner but when a pattern of dead asian women starts to emerge, Cora and her co-workers Harvey and Yifei set out to get to the bottom of it while dealing with hungry ghosts roaming the city!
I absolutely loved this! I haven't read anything by Kylie before and I was instantly hooked by her writing style. This novel is the perfect blend of Horror, Social Commentary and Thriller but beautifully blended with a dark sense of humour threaded throughout.
This novel deals a lot with racism towards the asian community, focusing on the start of the covid outbreak. With all the different aspects of the story, covid, murders, hungry ghosts etc I was worried to begin with that there would be too many elements and it would get confusing but all the fractions worked so well together often enhancing the stories as storylines overlapped. The horror parts of this novel were incredible, the imagery of the hungry ghosts was intense and had me turning the pages so fast. Something I really liked about this novel is the way Kylie wrote about the sisters, Cora obviously loved her sister but wasn't afraid to "speak ill of the dead" as the novel puts it - some-one doesn't stop being a dick just because they are dead right?
This is a gory and harrowing read that kept me hooked from page one, my copy is so highlighted it's actually silly. Thank you to Hodder for the proof - what a way to start the reading year!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic