Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker follows a young Asian American woman named Cora Zeng who becomes a crime scene cleaner after witnessing her sisters murder. After a series of brutal murders against east asian women around New York city Cora begins to realize that someone is hunting these women and something us hunting Cora. The story explores the prejudice that asian americans faced in the wake of the pandemic and how far some people to their hatred. It also explores grief and how to move on and find yourself after living your life in someone else’s shadow. Cora’s lack of confidence and self-worth is incredibly frustrating to read about, it makes me so sad and angry for her. Kylie Lee Baker has done an incredible job of portraying the reality of poor self-worth that many young women and especially young marginalized women face on the daily. I think many of us can relate to Cora’s self-image issues to some degree. The social commentary was very spot on and eye opening. Kylie heavily critiques the inequality of police work and which type of victims are seen as important enough to spend resources on. Police brutality and corruption is something I am passionate about and it is always refreshing reading a story that highlights just how awful the legal system is in many places. I wasn’t really expecting the reveal at the end but it definitely fit the story. If you are wanting a crime heavy story I wouldn’t get your hopes up about this story as it leans more heavily towards the paranormal and explores chinese beliefs surrounding death, afterlife and ghosts. Overall I really enjoyed this book.