Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

Beginning at the onset of the COVID pandemic in New York City, this eerily compelling romp is the story of a Chinese American woman dealing with real-world horrors and hungry ghosts. Cora Zeng is 24 and a begrudging shadow of her older half-sister Delilah, when the world stops with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. One day, as the sisters wait for the subway, a man rushes at them and pushes Delilah onto the tracks in front of a train, killing her. Months later, while Cora works as a crime scene cleanup technician, scenes where East Asian women have been killed appear at an alarming frequency. Especially alarming are the bats—some living, some dead—found near the victims. As Cora’s aunt insists that she pay necessary homage to the late Delilah, Cora can’t stop thinking about what the man who pushed Delilah called her—bat-eater. Cora is soon convinced that there is a connection between the bats and the murders.