Bad Cree

A Novel

By: Jessica Johns

Narrated by: Tanis Parenteau

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

In this gripping, horror-laced debut, a young Cree woman’s dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home.

"A mystery and a horror story about grief, but one with defiant hope in its beating heart."—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Pallbearers Club

When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears.

Night after night, Mackenzie’s dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina’s untimely death: a weekend at the family’s lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But when the waking world starts closing in, too—a murder of crows stalks her every move around the city, she wakes up from a dream of drowning throwing up water, and gets threatening text messages from someone claiming to be Sabrina—Mackenzie knows this is more than she can handle alone.

Traveling north to her rural hometown in Alberta, she finds her family still steeped in the same grief that she ran away to Vancouver to escape. They welcome her back, but their shaky reunion only seems to intensify her dreams—and make them more dangerous.

What really happened that night at the lake, and what did it have to do with Sabrina’s death? Only a bad Cree would put their family at risk, but what if whatever has been calling Mackenzie home was already inside?

©2023 Jessica Johns (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Bad Cree deftly explores the permeable boundaries of dreams, reality, and culture, as well as complex family dynamics and relationships. A compelling novel that is a mystery and a horror story about grief, but one with defiant hope in its beating heart."—Paul Tremblay, author A Head Full of Ghosts and The Pallbearers Club

"Both tactile and dreamy, terrifying and beautiful, Bad Cree will wrap you up and pull you along for the journey–once it starts, there’s no backing out, no pause, no stall. I have been waiting years for Jessica Johns’s books–I say books because there had better be more! She did not disappoint."—Cherie Dimaline, author of The Marrow Thieves

 "Bad Cree is a masterwork of creeping tension. Wry, moody and subversive, Johns explores the power of connections, both the harm and the healing, with characters rich and warm, tangled in each other, to the land and to the supernatural. Couldn't put it down."—Eden Robinson, author of the Trickster Trilogy 

Good story - not great but good. audible voice was good. Nothing really Vancouver related.

I bought the book because it was on a list of books set in Vancouver. It is barely set in Vancouver - and isn’t Vancouver related. So that was a big miss. However, the story is interesting and the audible voice is complimentary to the story. Not the greatest book - but worth and audible listen while long car drive. It wasn’t pure fluff, but neither was it complicated to follow story line or who was who (and their role to the story line)

A heartwarming and compelling story of coming home

A story of grief and healing based on in life, weaved with old indigenous tales. We follow the character through feelings of loneliness and rebuilding relationships.

Eerie

I loved this book and the narration. Haunting & heartfelt, an exploration of grief, love and family that will at once move you and spook you to your core.

Gripping & emotional & terrifying

I would have finished it in one day, but it got dark outside and I was honestly too scared lol

This book was phenomenal in so many ways. If you're also Native, I hella recommend not listening to it when you're home alone at night tho

Interesting release from a promising new author.

This book took a few chapters to get me hooked, but then kept a steady pace as the plot developed.

Dramatic & poignant future classic

The novel starts off with a dream sequence. And I, like any reader who is familiar with this trope, suspended my skepticism for just a moment and a moment was all I needed to discover that this novel was going to take off in an unexpected direction.

Excellent character development, Johns does an excellent job wrapping up plotlines with finesse. This is a complex parable neatly woven into a tapestry rich with culture, feminist matriarchal wisdom, and hope for an individual's healing from trauma. Mackenzie's struggle to be honest and vulnerable was incredibly believable and understandable, and we really get to see that she falls back into old patterns right up til the end when there is an unexpected but needed intervention, one that is subtle but effective.

I am only disappointed in the plot involving JoLee. I understand why Mackenzie needed to lose contact with her friend, however I greatly wish we could see more of JoLee. I hope they make a reappearance in a future novel, separate from this even. They were clearly a well-developed character and deserved their own tale.

Overall, the novel did not disappoint and the stakes increased and kept increasing, the climax was suspenseful and the creature of the novel was terrifying. This work truly deserves to be immortalized as a classic.