I could not put this down!
This book truly does deal with the horror of humanity - especially in times where humanity as a whole is at risk. How rather than banding together the "majority" will find a group to witch hunt and blame. The violence that comes from it. Only this book truely shows the horror of it all, how fair certain groups will go to feel justice, or some form of satisfaction, over another.
Cora, despite how extreme she could be with her fears, was relatable. I felt a piece of myself within her, not knowing what to do with her life, and it feeling like she is to rely on others to piece a stereotype of herself that may fit into society. Her characterisation helped ground this book in reality, where there's a serial murderer, ghosts, and a pandemic happening. Although I am a white Australian and truly couldn't grasp everything that Cora goes through, as her experiences with rascism and daily aggressions is something I would never experience.
The framing of racism through the lens of something that effected the world as a whole was jarring yet familiar. It was something I would see on the news or on social media, yet nothing I saw in person due to lockdown and living in a primarily white neighbourhood at the time. Reading about it, experiecing Cora's daily life really put it into perspective of how different my experience was to many, MANY others. This book frames really how little white people know about what others went through, specifically anyone who may have looked Chinese.
Baker's addition of the 'paranormal' was woven well into the plot. Where the case of the serial killer stagnated the threat of hungry ghosts would keep us engaged. And how it all tied together in the end was so well done.
I have so many thoughts about this book, but I am finding it hard to truly express everything. Bat Eater is a fantastic book, yet as a white reader I feel like some of the experiences within the novel I could truly never fully understand, and I don't wish to take away voice from those whop lived through these expereinces and continue to.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review! I enjoy horror, I don’t mind gore, but this was too much for me, from the second chapter all I could focus on was how nauseated I felt. (The bath drain was just too much for me haha) and I sadly had to DNF. With that said, the prose is chilling, the existential dread of Cora is well and truly unsettling. It is well written, it was just the very in depth descriptions of the gore in the crime scenes was too much for me.