I feel across the bedsheet for anything: blood, feathers, twig-small bones. My fingers shake and search by touch in between pillows, into every crease and wrinkle of the fitted sheet. I turn on the flashlight on my phone and use it to look into shadows, but I find nothing. My shirt, when I bring it up to my nose, smells like the outside in winter, like pine trees and sharp cold.

p. 2

Introduction

Oh. My. Goodness. Y’all, this book was magic and I’m so thrilled to share my thoughts on it with you here. In Jessica Johns’ debut novel, we follow Mackenzie as she deals with endlessly recurring nightmares in the winter, fending off crows from her deceased sister’s body. When she tries to go back to her hometown to get some answers, she has to deal with the grief she left behind as well as the thing that threatens her family in dreams and in the waking world.

THIS NOVEL HITS LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN. I’m going to try and be as coherent as possible, but I’m so thrilled about this book. I originally picked it up on NetGalley but knew that I would have to buy a copy of it for myself immediately after it was published. That’s exactly what I did, too: after a weekend to myself with which I successfully blasted through the book, I’m so excited that Johns is here to write and share stories with us. Let’s dive in below.

The Good Stuff

Some books have wildly good opening lines – there are tons of classics many readers are familiar with, too many to list here. With Bad Cree, Johns puts herself solidly on that list of great opening lines. When I say earlier that this book hits like a freight train, I mean it. Am I going to tell you what it is? Absolutely not! I want you to read it for yourself and get ready for the bold, imagery-heavy storytelling that Johns sets up right at the beginning. That powerful imagery continues throughout the book.

Johns’ writing is powerful and drops you into main character Mackenzie’s world, both inner and outer. We get an immediate sense of Mackenzie in the diaspora. Even though she’s in the same country as her family still, it’s still a deeply alien environment for her and we feel that sense of disconnection early and often. Joli, a friend of Mackenzie’s that uses they/them pronouns, and their mom Dianne are lifelines that keep Mackenzie connected to the world. When she starts to open up about the disturbing dreams she’s been having, those connections are essential to keeping her as healthy as she can be in a difficult context while helping her realize that she needs to go home to get actual closure. I have to emphasize again that I do not want to spoil this story for you, so I won’t get into details too much more here – please do yourself the favor of reading it, but do know there are some content warnings to be mindful of as you go in. All of the things mentioned below are specific and necessary to the story, although sensitive readers may still want to know about them heading in.

A specific list of content warnings is contained between the two kitten GIFs here – you can take them in if you need or scroll past if you don’t.

• Grief
• Body horror
• Gore
• Cannibalism
• Terminal illness/cancer
• Addiction/alcoholism
• Vomit
• Alcohol mentions and usage

In a similar vein to Firekeeper’s Daughter, one of the best things about this book is that it is culturally specific. I don’t want to do a disservice to Johns with comparisons to Boulley and I hope it comes across as the intended compliment – the cultural specificity of the story as tied to place and people is beautiful to see and strengthens the themes of the book. As someone who has Cree cousins, that aspect of the story hit home for me (and made me look forward very much to my tribe’s homecoming powwow this summer!). Johns’ description of Cree family ties and the love that the characters have for each other enfolds you into an understanding of Mackenzie, good and bad. The complications of grief, the strength of family ties (even when things don’t always make sense to the nonCree family members), and the power of collective understanding of each other is so strongly communicated in this story. It’s truly a wonderful read, even with the genuinely scary elements. As both an allegory for family and a truly scary addition to Indigenous horror canon, this book is incredible.

In Summary

I’m so thrilled to see more Indigenous authors, and especially thrilled to see more Indigenous horror authors. This book in all respects is highly recommended!

Bad Cree is written by Jessica Johns and published by Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House. You can find the book on the publisher’s website, linked here. As always, gichi miigwech for reading!