Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Pub date: January 10, 2023

I loved the premise of Bad Cree for the pure horror it brought but what really gave this story beauty is the indigenous culture that enfolds it.

Mackenzie is a young Cree woman who has fled her home, avoiding painful past memories. When she begins bringing things back from her dreams/nightmares, she knows there is something supernatural at work. With urging from her friend, she consults an auntie and decides to go home. With the nightmares increasing, Mac must rely on those in her family to drive out the evil that is invading her nightmares.

As I said earlier, this is without a doubt horror but it is so much more. I loved how strongly female character driven this story is and found comfort within Mac’s family, as she did. This is a sure sign of a well-written novel – when I can sink into the story as if I belong. The women in Mac’s family have dealt with grief, loss, racism but they’ve also experienced joy within their culture and family. All of this is sharply felt throughout along with a strong sinister undertone that is looking to destroy the familiar. Beautifully blended!

I’m amazed this is a debut novel and I will be anxiously awaiting what Jessica Johns does next!

My thanks to @DoubleDayBooks for this gifted DRC!

Mackenzie left home shortly after the death of her kokum and before her sister Sabrina's death, but her dreams keep bringing her home. In her dreams, Mackenzie goes back to a weekend at her family's lakeside campsite. When she wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hand, to have it disappear moments later! What???? Is she doomed to have these dreams/nightmares because she is a 'Bad' Cree? Obviously, there is something sinister going on. Her close friend provides support but cannot help as the dreams keep coming. Unsettled and freaked out, she begins receiving text messages which appear to be from her dead sister, Sabrina.

Needing to learn the truth, Mackenzie heads back home as the dreams continue. What happened the night at the lake? Why is she having such vivid and frightening dreams? Why do the dreams seem so real? Mackenzie's family do not dismiss her dreams, they rally around her, and try to help.

There is an uneasy feel to this book which is also seeped in tension and atmosphere. Readers are given more and more information and things to think about each time Mackenzie dreams. Seriously, how does she go to sleep night after night?

This book is full of female characters who all have a part to play. The Cree family of women are dealing with their individual grief, guilt, and their family dynamic. There are also elements of culture, community, and identity. I loved that the author used Cree words in her writing making this book feel even more authentic. This is not the fastest paced book and I usually struggle with books on the slower side, but this one was not a struggle at all. I was intrigued from the beginning with the dreams, the imagery and the weight of grief.

This is an impressive debut novel which blends the supernatural with horror. Jessica Johns is one to watch/read!

While I did not enjoy this book very much due to the issues I had with pacing, structure, and character, I don't think it's a bad book. It just didn't fulfill what I was looking for in an adult book, a horror book, or a mystery/thriller. I wish I liked it more than I do.

I'll start with the things I did like. The parts of the narrative that focused on familial relationships, memories, and the effects of death and grief were extremely well-written and memorable. My favorite part of the book is when Mackenzie describes hearing the sound of her kokum shaking a can of coins after her death, and her memories of the adults playing card games with the kids in the next room over listening. In fact, everything to do with the memories of her kokum and the way Mackenzie's family handled her death were beautifully done, with fantastic prose and good pacing.

Her relationships with her family were also the stand-out part of the book. Her having to navigate the complicated threads of being hurt, hurting others, and trying to heal were realistic, with miscommunications and mistakes from characters that felt natural. I loved that at the end of the book not everything had been wrapped up in a neat bow. Mackenzie acknowledges the mistakes she made with her family and wants to work on healing. 
Characterization


When I started Bad Cree, I was confused. I avoid requesting YA titles on Netgalley because they are usually not for me, and I don't want to give a negative review of something I know I am not in the target audience for. The prose style, the character's maturity, and the structure of the book all came off as YA to me. When I finished the book, it wasn't until I was writing this review that I realized it was supposed to be an adult book. 

It makes sense, to some extent; the main character is, I believe, in her 20s, and her cousin is a year younger, her sister older. While most of the time they act their age, there are moments that seem incredibly immature out of nowhere. For example, when Mackenzie begins to have her dreams, instead of turning to Google, she decides that the best course of action is to watch a bunch of Marvel movies, take notes on them, and then examine herself for bug bites. This was weird and distracting from the narrative--one of those things that took me completely out of immersion. When the three figure out what exactly is haunting Mackenzie, they decide to try and bring it out of her dreams. They do this with no solid idea of what it can do or how to kill it. The thing is, they have access to Google. They Googled to try to figure out what the creature was! All they had to do was add another keyword to the search! It's basic common sense! But they didn't do that for some reason completely unfathomable to me, even after Mackenzie asks how they're going to kill it.

Look. Adult characters can be immature, I understand that. In fact, adult characters should be immature at times. There are moments in Bad Cree where they are immature, struggle with feelings, or make bad decisions in a way that was natural and made sense. But there are moments where the immaturity are so jarring that it takes me completely out of the narrative and feels out of place with previous characterization. 

Narrative Structure and Prose


This was another element that led me to think Bad Cree was a YA book. Not to say the prose is bad, but more so that it echoes elements of YA horror I've read before; elements of exposition dumping, skipping over some dialogue scenes, and a lack of intense or tense horror elements consistantly being built up throughout the narrative in favor of most of the horrific elements being sprinkled in then rushed through in the last two or so chapters.

There were several places where exposition explaining what Mackenzie has been through that could have been handled differently and far more effectively. For example, there is a moment at the beginning after Mackenzie wakes from a dream. After she wakes, the narrative backtracks and summarizes all the dreams before this one. She then calls her friend, Joli, and they talk about the situation. Instead of having the exposition dumped into the narrative, why not have it in this conversation with Joli? As a reader, reading Mackenzie explain it to another person would be far more engaging and understandable than having the narrative flow broken a few pages in with an exposition dump. 

Another spot this happens is with the plan to pull the monster out of Mackenzie's dreams. Kassidy and Tracey suggest the plan mid-chapter, Mackenzie agrees to consider it, and at the beginning of the next chapter she has agreed to it. As a reader, I want to see her thought process. I want to see her weigh the options, consider the danger the monster could pose to her family in the house, try to come up with a plan. Instead she just agrees to it without us seeing any of that. Halfway through that chapter she asks what they're going to do if it works. The plan is, and I quote, that they'll just "jump it." Mackenzie asks if it's that simple, her sister is like "maybe," and Mackenzie just accepts that as an answer. They don't even grab weapons or try to arm themselves. They don't google "how to kill monster." It just seems bizarre that they don't do any of the obvious, basic things that this kind of plan would naturally lead to, which takes me out of narrative immersion, especially as they'd just used google to try and find more information on it.

Horror


While I certainly loved the imagery in places, and liked the final confrontation with the monster, the overall use and effectiveness of horror elements in Bad Cree left something to be desired. I didn't get the intensity of feeling--of being stalked, of being watched, by something wearing your sister's face--from the narrative. Especially when the creature claims it has already been stalking Tracey, from which we only get the mushroom scene and then the flannel is burned and that element is solved immediately. It would have been far more interesting had its influence on Tracey been more gradual, more tense; had it been impossible to burn the flannel so easily (as that would have put extra pressure on in the final confrontation). 

The only moments of horror we get are usually restricted to the dreams, save for at the very end. While her dreams are certainly interesting, the ways in which they encroach upon the real world are more interesting, and I would have loved to see the boundaries between dream and reality played with more. The monster's presence is not a terribly strong one, which I felt was a little disappointing. The monster is, obviously, connected heavily with grief and greed and misery. The descriptions of grief hanging in the halls of the house, of running under the surface, are wonderful. So why doesn't the monster do the same? Why does it not influence anything besides the dreams? I feel that the horror elements could have used a lot more development and intensity.

The novel is described as "gripping" and "horror-laced," neither of which I found particularly accurate to my reading experience. I never felt as though any of the characters were actually in any danger from the monster, whether that be physical, mental, or emotional. From pretty early on in the book, I didn't think the narrative would end unhappily. When they went to confront the monster, I didn't doubt that they would succeed without losing or hurting anyone in the process. For me, there was no feeling of tension because the tension and threat had been kept so solidly in the dream world up until that time I sincerely doubted the monster's ability to actually post a threat. And I was right; Mackenzie killed it, without a scratch on her, her cousin, or her sister.

Johns discusses the importance of dreams in Cree culture in the introduction. She talks about why she wrote this book and what ideas she is pushing against with such a heavy focus on dreams and dreaming in this novel. I want to be clear that that’s not what I have an issue with; my issue isn’t with the dreams themselves. Those were good scenes. Nor is it with the family relationships and handling of grief. My problem is that the narrative fabric doesn’t effectively weave those two things together as strongly as they could have been. The tension between Mackenzie, her family members, her stress, and the supernatural could have worked well if they played off one another better, if the monster was more of a present threat.
Final Thoughts

I gave this book three stars because while it’s a decent novel, it’s not a novel that particularly fulfills what I personally look for in horror, adult fiction, or supernatural mystery/thriller.


If this book's premise sounds interesting and you want an excellent book exploring grief, family, and loss, Bad Cree might be for you. But I can't say this book will ever be one I'll recommend as a horror, thriller, or mystery novel. It just doesn't quite tick those boxes for me. Maybe it will for you.

Bad Cree grabbed my attention right from the beginning with "a murder of crows" and Mackenzie's creepy dream. I knew I was going to be in for a ride. While there were points I felt moved a little slow for my liking, I really enjoyed learning a bit more about Cree culture and the story itself was really interesting with the supernatural and horror aspects. It's certainly creepy and different from anything I've read before.

I also loved the references to crib or cribbage, as it's a game my entire family has loved to play for generations and it's not something you often see in books.

A really interesting debut!

Thank you Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the eARC!
3.5/5 stars

DNF @ 33% :'(
I loved learning more about Cree, and loved the dreams and crows but the writing style bugged me in a personal pet-peeve kind of way. I don't vibe with first person present, I don't vibe with similes, etc. *shrug* No hate toward the story itself though, I might finish at a later date. If I do, I will edit this review to reflect my final thoughts. I wish the author and this book the best!
I will be mentioning it/recommending it to my subscribers on my youtube channel [link below] in my January reading wrap up video which will probably go up 1/31/23
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCElurd9xTifyHtPw5QJmx_g

Sooooooo good. Just an a straight up great horror book. Would love to review a physical copy of this one in full on my insta,

This book was so gripping and such an emotional read. We are introduced to Mackenzie, a young Cree woman who has been having intense dreams that are causing her a lot of stress. The dreams are all centered on a specific night of her life before the passing of her older sister Sabrina, who is a twin. I appreciated being able to see how much love Mackenzie has for her friends and family, but how difficult it has become for her to express that and be there for them as she deals with the grief and loss of her sister. This book really centers on family and community and how isolating yourself can be detrimental to the healing process. Although this book was very emotional, it was also quite scary in its own way. The first person POV really places the reader directly into the terror and distress felt by Mackenzie as her dreams become more and more disturbing and begin to bleed into her reality. I felt myself frequently holding my breath or sitting on the edge of my seat while reading. Mackenzie is not the most likeable character in general, but I absolutely loved the complexity of her personality. She deals with a lot of anxiety and depression and grief throughout the story.
I cannot recommend this book enough. If you like thrillers/horrors and exploration of family and healing after loss, this could be the book for you!

When details of Mackenzie's nightmares start to remain in her hands when she wakes up, she has to face her family, their collective grief, and her own self.
Bad Cree built on themes of storytelling I love (dreams, grief, family, self-reflection) and created a beautiful narrative. Mackenzie was a lovely protagonist and I was SO invested in her journey. The character dynamics were so engaging and fun and real. The writing was gripping and kept me reading. The level of suspense was perfect. I can't wait to handsell this book! I've been talking it up already.
Thank you for the digital ARC!

I honestly don’t think I understand my own emotions enough to really explain my love for this book.

Right from the start, I was captivated. Mackenzie’s dreams are what we get as an introduction to this story and the tone, imagery, and very interesting themes keeps us in the book. I loved how this was a perfect mix of horror and suspense and emotion and culture.


I would go into this book without know any details because you get to feel the emotions that Mackenzie feels throughout her journey.

After an extremely-vivid dream involving a seemingly-evil murder of crows, Mackenzie wakes with a start to find that she has the severed head of a crow in her hand. Trying to shake off the fear from the dream, Mackenzie is shocked at what she is seeing. After a few breathless moments, the head is gone. Was it really there, and if so, what does it mean?

Rattled from the dream, Mackenzie is even more shaken the next day when she discovers crows seem to be watching and following her through the city streets. As if the dream itself weren't disturbing enough. She confides in her one close friend in the city, hoping they will be able to help her make some sense of what is happening to her. Unfortunately, the nightmares persist. Mackenzie is losing sleep and her health takes a blow. She needs to do something.

She needs to figure this out. She can't go on like this. She decides she needs to go home. Her gut tells her that the answers are there, but the idea of returning to her rural prairie town fills Mackenzie with apprehension. Having fled home after the death of her beloved kokum, Mackenzie now feels estranged from her close-knit family. It doesn't help that when her sister, Sabrina, passed away suddenly, Mackenzie, unable to face it, didn't even go home for the funeral. She carries a lot of guilt because of that.

Once home, she's enveloped quickly back into the fray. It's like a warm, though tentative hug. The reunion goes better than she expected. Mackenzie finds herself slowly gaining strength from her family, it's a physical reminder of who she is and where she came from. She has such loving, supportive and wise women in her life. Her Mom and Aunties, even her cousins, surround her with energy.

Her dreams do continue and seem to be escalating, however, she now has someone to share them with. She's confiding in her family and together it feels like they may be able to actually figure it out. Mackenzie spends a lot of time with her cousin, Kassidy, and sister, Tracey, trying to decipher the meaning behind the nightmares. It's clear they're connected to a night they shared at the lake, where the girls, along with the now deceased, Sabrina, took an ill-fated walk home from a party.

But how can that long-ago night possibly be connected?

Y'all, I fell completely in love with Jessica Johns' debut novel, Bad Cree. It's an exceptionally well-constructed, slow burn Supernatural Horror novel, full of inspired imagery and thought-provoking themes. There's no way I will be able to adequately explain my love for this, but I'll give it my best shot.

From the very first pages I was pulled into this story. Johns goes dark and quickly. Mackenzie's dreams are at the forefront at the start of this novel and I was digging the tone. I really enjoyed Johns' style of storytelling. The writing is blunt, to the point and perfectly descriptive without beating it to death. I appreciated how incredible the imagery was without being so flowery that the plot got buried.

I also really enjoyed the mystery at the heart of the story. Trying to find out how the current situation was related to the past was so enthralling.

Additionally, I loved watching Mackenzie's journey as she reunited with her family and began opening up to them. She really needed to get to a place where she was okay asking for help and that touched me. I felt everything she was going through. I felt those feelings, hesitations, grief, guilt, etc. It was all so well done. It was super believable and relatable.

Another thing I really appreciated about this story is that there is no romance. This is a story of family and culture, of history and growth, and it didn't need a pointless romance shoved in to gain popularity points. It's also a very female-focused story, which was so refreshing. All the main characters in this story are either female, or nonbinary. To have an entire novel focused on familial relationships, and nothing else, is pretty rare and I loved how it was done here.

I highlighted so many passages in this book. I absolutely adored this from start-to-finish. The family in this story is total life goals. The Indigenous experience and lore weaved throughout made it captivating and eye-opening. I could seriously go on for many more paragraphs, but at this point, I think you probably get it: I LOVED THIS STORY. 10-out-of-10 recommend!!

Thank you so very much to the publisher, Doubleday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I am definitely buying a hard copy of this one for my shelves!! This should be on every Horror Lovers TBR!!

A dark, atmospheric thriller with a supernatural center. Mackenzie has been suffering from nightmares that take her to a snowy forest and the dead body of her sister. As the dreams progress she heads home to her Cree family hoping the women there can help her figure out and stop these dreams.

I don’t read a lot of horror so I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into this book. The concept was interesting and when I finally figured out what was going on I was surprised and the slow burn was perfect to create the feeling of dread. It had really good imagery and the aunties and mother had me laughing, which was a create way to break some tension. However, I did find myself becoming a little bored sometimes and skipping over some other parts and the climax needed to be drawn out a bit more.

Thank you to Net Galley and Doubleday Books for the ARC!

Bad Cree follows Mackenzie, a young Cree woman living on her own in Canada. When she begins to have dreams that feel too real and crows start following her wherever she goes, she finds she might have to return home to her family for help to defeat whatever is haunting her. A home she’s avoided after not returning after the sudden death of her sister, unsure how to deal with the grief and memories that still live there. I absolutely adored this book. I feel like the atmosphere and the family itself was so rich and dynamic and full of people who truly love one another, even when they fight there is so much love in this family. I think one of my favorite aspects of the book is when they’re trying to figure out what is haunting Mackenzie, they go out into the community and talk to neighbors and elders about what it could be, all the while the kids stay home baking and cooking so they can go to these other houses with food to trade for advice. I just loved that it was a community effort even though it seemed like a personal family issue. I loved the Native American folklore elements and the horror visuals were really stunning. It’s just a really creative family drama with supernatural elements that really nails the pathos of all its central characters. A truly stunning book!

Bad Cree is an incredible new addition to the supernatural horror genre. I have been so excited to see so much more indigenous horror being published lately as well, and Bad Cree is an excellent new addition there as well. Bad Cree follows protagonist Mackenzie as she begins to experience intense dreams where things in those dreams... don't always stay in the dreams.

This story opens up in one of Mackenzie's dreams where she happening to be dealing with some unruly crows. When she finally manages to wake up from her dream, she does so with a severed crow's head somehow in her hands. The weird part is that this isn't the first time something like this has happened to Mackenzie, and it isn't going to be the last. The story then continues to follow Mackenzie as she starts trying to figure out what these dreams mean. She finally decides it's time to ask her family and decides to travel back home fro the first time since her sister died a year ago, something she'd been putting off as long as she can.

The author mentions in a brief introduction that she was told by a professor that no one wants to read about dreams in books, and since dreams are such a big part of her culture she felt that was simply wrong and dismissive of her culture, and she decided to write a book almost entirely centered on dreams to prove them wrong–and I'd say she was very successful in doing that! I'll admit, I don't always love dream sequences in books either, but that's probably because they weren't done nearly as well as they were in Bad Cree, nor were they as critical to the plot as they are in this book. Jessica Johns wove the dreams effortlessly into this narrative and made them utterly riveting and critical to the plot.

Bad Cree is a very character-driven and family relationship-driven story, though it certainly has some strong supernatural horror elements interwoven as well. This is very much a story about Mackenzie learning to come to terms with her sister's death and how it has not only affected her own life, but also her other sister's life and the rest of her family. Mackenzie seemingly did whatever she could to move away from her hometown in order to distance herself and start her own life, and this book really forces her to confront that choice and also confront her family after so much history has happened.

I really loved the family dynamics at play at this book and getting to see our protagonist go back to her hometown to reconnect with and make amends with her family, all while they learn to band together to deal with whatever is plaguing her. I felt a deep sense of family, community, and female connection in this story between all of the women family members, and I think the author did an incredible job creating that.

As for the supernatural/horror elements of Bad Cree, I felt that Johns created a strong atmosphere that was full of tension, unease, and tons of uncertainty. There's a very general overall eerie vibe in this story due to the weird dreams that start to have potentially dangerous consequences, the cultural stories that play into things, and the general sense of the unknown that's at play. I was excited by how spooky this story was and how Johns used the spookiness to tell both an entertaining story full of creepy moments and a story full of emotional depth and family elements. If you're looking for something that ties all of that together in a really cohesive way, and if you'd like to check out and support more of the awesome indigenous fiction that's been getting published lately, then Bad Cree is what you're looking for!

Overall, I've given Bad Cree four stars!

Well unfortunately Bad Cree was a swing and a miss. I expected it to be more horror that what it was. But Bad Cree didn't even come close to being a thriller let alone a horror story.

The pacing was slow and for me it was probably due to the Cree words and terminology. I have a tendency to "mouth" out foreign words and even go so far as to look them up. So that really made my reading a bit cumbersome.

I didn't quite get the pronoun usage of they/them until another reader commented on a non-binary character. It was a bit strange for me. But it turned out that Joli was my favorite character in the novel.

The storyline was a bit eerie, but not enough to keep me engaged. Perhaps if the narrative had been more horrific, I would have enjoyed it then. In the end, however, I gave up trying to slog through a book that I wasn't enjoying. So at 33% I was done. One unfortunate star.

I received a digital ARC from Doubleday Books through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns (thank you @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review)

I DEVOURED this one, even though there are no chapters. We follow Mackenzie, an Indigenous woman who has moved away from her family and is starting to have dreams around the year anniversary of her sister's death. But these aren't regular dreams, sometimes she brings things back with her from them. Crows begin following her, and she decides to head back home for family support through her dreams.

The title Bad Cree was used throughout the book, often asking, am I had at the traditions and knowledge of my family? This tale of grief shows how people handle it differently and how grief affects the family dynamic. Without getting into it, there are several aspects in here that I love in my horror novels, such as 🍄.

I really loved this look at family, because I come from a strenuous family situation, and left the "flock" just as Mackenzie had. It's a tale of identity vs the family unit, and how to process your own grief.

Highly recommend this haunting tale.

There is also bisexual and non-binary rep. I love to see it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5

Pub: Jan 10 2023

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13s

"Bad Cree" by Jessica Johns is a coming-of-age story of a sort, filled with family and Cree legend. It's a horror novel, but it is also a story of love and grief, of family and generational trauma.

I loved the supernatural elements of the book and how they tied into Cree tradition. I liked the slow build; it really created a feeling of dread. The plot was entertaining and imaginative and I loved the strong women characters. I am excited to see a book by an indigenous writer, who are so underrepresented in publishing.

That said, I just couldn't love this book because the writing style wasn't for me. In particular, I couldn't get past some of the grammar. However, it wasn't the use of the plural pronoun for a nonbinary character that bothered me; I understand and encourage this. It was the author's repeated us of phrases like "me and Tracey went" or " "me, Tracey, and Kassidy walk..." that really grated on me. This is first grade grammar and it really distracted me from enjoying the story. It must have been a conscious choice of the author to use this language because it occurred over and over, but it really detracted from the quality of the writing. I cringed and was distracted every time the author chose to use this wording.

I also would have liked to get to know the family better. There wasn't much depth beyond them touching each other (a lot), cooking (so much), and playing card games. Their conversations, even the deeply serious ones, still seemed a bit superficial to me. None of the characters ever really came alive to me; this book would have been so much better if it had delved more deeply into family traditions and grief instead of just seeming to skim the surface. It's not enough to tell me the family is loving-make me feel that closeness and love! And I know the author focused on the women members of the family, but I found it odd that Mackenzie's father was almost nonexistent in the plot even though he hadn't seen her in ages.

Overall, this book is worth a read, if only to immerse yourself into an underrepresented community and culture. However, I think it could have been so much better. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced digital galley of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really love discovering new authors, and I was very eager and interested in reading BAD CREE by Jessica Johns because of how darn fascinating the premise was. A Cree woman named Mackenzie has left her family behind for Vancouver in the wake of her sister Sabrina's death, but when she starts having dreams about her and can bring things out from the dreams into the real world, she realizes she needs to find answers that only her female relatives back home can provide. Johns has a nice build up of quiet but unrelenting dread as Mackenzie, her other sister Tracey, and her cousin Kassidy try to figure out what happened to Sabrina, and if they are in danger as well (spoiler alert: they are). I really enjoyed the way that Johns wove in family interactions and cultural beliefs with the horror story, and how she also brings in metaphors and themes of grief, trauma, and oppression. These all combine into a well done horror novel that has a lot of emotional weight to it.

BAD CREE is very enjoyable! It has both scares and moments of sadness, and it makes fro a winning combination.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

A murder of crows.......

What could possibly go wrong?

A cluster of black-feathered creatures with their shrieking high-pitched sounds. Scavengers perched near battlefields and cemeteries.......never a comforting sign.

Mackenzie feels their presence outside her window. They seem to follow her along the streets of Vancouver where she works as a cashier at the local Whole Foods. Mackenzie resorts to putting her head down and following her familiar footsteps back to her sub par apartment. But it's the intense dreams that she can't escape from. Sleep never comes.......only the nightmares.

Mackenzie considers herself a "bad" Cree. She left her family and her home in Alberta after her sister, Sabrina, died suddenly. She never even went back for the funeral. Disconnect became her middle name. But the guilt is seeping powerfully, especially after she finds a black crow feather on her nightstand. It's time to deal with it all.

Jessica Johns presents her debut novel lined with unresolved grief alongside the intense grip of family and culture. She carves Mackenzie into that one element of humanity that sets the heaviness and burdens of life's situations somewhere on a shelf to be dealt with later or not at all. Mackenzie, moreover, dismisses what is at the heart of the Cree......family. And she'll pay the price for that.

Bad Cree leveled out at a 3 to a 3.5 Stars for me. It lingered far too long in some areas with repetition and treading water. The pacing definitely needs some fine-tuning. Johns' strength came in her characterizations.....so very human and raw. And as we approached the conclusion, there were solid elements taking place and the beauty of the Cree began to shine through. That's when the 4 Stars began to twinkle for a gem in the making now and in the future for this author. I want that voice to be captured, once again, in her next offering. Jessica Johns is one to watch.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Doubleday Books and to Jessica Johns for the opportunity.