an eerie and sharp story that explores familial grief, racism, and trauma.

this novel follows cora zeng as she deals with the murder of her sister while living through the covid-19 pandemic, and how she and her coworkers start to notice a scary pattern in the crime scenes they clean up. the writing is graphic, immersive, and profound. the author explored the real-life ramifications of racism, xenophobia, and hatred. this is definitely a horror novel; some of the scenes were very scary #tome (i don't read horror much). i also enjoyed the threads of chinese culture and folklore that were interwoven into cora's investigations.

cora is such an interesting character to me; she's very multifaceted, even if you think that her only identity is being wrapped up in her sister. i really liked the relationships developed in the novel; harvey, yifei, and cora were a really interesting dynamic with all of them being chinese and dealing with xenophobia/racism, and auntie zeng and cora, with auntie zeng's spiritual and cultural knowledge versus cora not believing in it at first.

gory, haunting, and intriguing; this book really draws you in and places you in the horror of cora's world as she fights both the hungry ghots emerging, a closed-down world in the wake of an illness spreading around the world, and the racism and xenophobia directed towards not only her, but many asian people. i would recommend this book to people who like literary or horror novels

thanks to netgalley and harlequin trade publishing for the arc!