Bat Eater

WINNER OF THE SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL 2025 '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 ----
---- 'Bat Eater will swoop in like a bat out of hell, swallow you whole and leave no crumbs' ALICE SLATER ----
---- '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. ---- '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

Kylie Lee Baker is the Sunday Times bestselling author of adult horror novels Bat Eater and Japanese Gothic, and YA novels The Keeper of Night duology and The Scarlet Alchemist duology. She grew up in Boston, but lived in Atlanta, Salamanca and Seoul before returning to Massachusetts. Her work is informed by her heritage (Chinese, Japanese and Irish) as well as her experiences living abroad as both a student and teacher. She has a BA in Creative Writing and Spanish from Emory University and an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons University. In her free time, she plays the cello, watches horror movies and bakes too many cookies.