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Black Feathers
A gripping, genre-bending novel from a master storyteller
Sixteen-year-old runaway Cassie Weathers is utterly alone, living on the streets of Victoria as winter sets in. She meets Skylark, a girl who draws her into a community of street dwellers, a rag tag group led by the charismatic Brother Paul.
Cassie begins to find friendship and a tentative sense of belonging within the group, though everyone is on edge when the city is rocked by the news that a number of young prostitutes have been murdered. Cassie is haunted by dreams and the secrets that she fled from at home. What is real from her past and what exists only in her night terrors? How did the darkness of her dreams slip into her life back then, and why does it seem to be happening again? Under the spectre of a serial killer and questioning her own violent nature, Cassie spirals into complex dreamworlds where her past blurs with her present and nothing can be trusted.
Reminiscent of the works of Stephen King, Charles de Lint and Neil Gaiman, Black Feathers is a mythic thriller that carries you in its grip right until its heart-stopping conclusion.
Sixteen-year-old runaway Cassie Weathers is utterly alone, living on the streets of Victoria as winter sets in. She meets Skylark, a girl who draws her into a community of street dwellers, a rag tag group led by the charismatic Brother Paul.
Cassie begins to find friendship and a tentative sense of belonging within the group, though everyone is on edge when the city is rocked by the news that a number of young prostitutes have been murdered. Cassie is haunted by dreams and the secrets that she fled from at home. What is real from her past and what exists only in her night terrors? How did the darkness of her dreams slip into her life back then, and why does it seem to be happening again? Under the spectre of a serial killer and questioning her own violent nature, Cassie spirals into complex dreamworlds where her past blurs with her present and nothing can be trusted.
Reminiscent of the works of Stephen King, Charles de Lint and Neil Gaiman, Black Feathers is a mythic thriller that carries you in its grip right until its heart-stopping conclusion.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published August 11, 2015
9 people are currently reading
253 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
October 5, 2016
Black Feathers is quite the psychological mystery thriller! I read it in a day. Cassie, the main character, was likeable and frustrating at he same time and blurred lines between dream and reality propelled the story at a very fast pace. This book is dark, graphic and has very uncomfortable and disturbing subject matter, so not for the faint... I will probably go and look for Robert J. Wiersema's previous book - I enjoyed his writing style very much.
October 12, 2015
Wiersema wisely drives home the harsh life of the homeless and disenfranchised, grounding Black Feathers’ gripping mystery-thriller in an all-too-real situation most people are content to ignore. Wiersema’s Victoria is a cityscape of brutal nights and cruel days, as stark as vintage film noir and as dangerous as a straight razor. Cassie’s encroaching instability drives the narrative into a twisting labyrinth of hallucinations and red herrings, keeping the reader guessing as to which reality is correct. By novel’s end, as multiple narratives tie themselves together in a satisfying fashion, Wiersema’s skill at penning some of the finest genre literature in the land remains assured.
Read the full review at The Redeblog.
Read the full review at The Redeblog.
October 8, 2015
I gobbled up Black Feathers in one day. While different in focus than Before I Wake, another Wiersema novel I adored, there are similarities: a haunting, beautiful, often just out-of-reach Goodness in the universe that guides or comforts the main characters in the midst of horrendous pain or challenges; and a gentleness the reader senses on the part of the author. What's interesting about this is that Black Feathers is hugely gory and uncomfortable at times – Wiersema writes horror very well, but it is subtly accompanied by a focus on the kindnesses people can bestow on each other – a counter to the hellscapes they are experiencing. Is there a genre called Horror & Love? ;-) Black Feathers put me in mind of another book, The Illumination, whose conceit grew thin as the book wore on (glowing wounds) – Black Feathers is far more complex and well executed in its exploration of pain and healing. And most importantly: it's a great, unputdownable read.
July 14, 2015
A super easy beach read that is predictable enough you can easily get distracted without forgetting details. The best part of this novel is when Cassie starts mixing her past and present in her dreams leaving the reader a little unsure of what is real. Although Cassie is depicted as an unreliable narrator, if you have watched enough Law and Order SVU, you know right away that she isn't lying despite the maze of her dreams.
The ending was nicely wrapped up. If only it was that simple for all teenage runaways living on the streets.
The ending was nicely wrapped up. If only it was that simple for all teenage runaways living on the streets.
April 18, 2016
This was a perfectly serviceable thriller novel that was somewhat obfuscated by some Freddy Kreuger type nightmare scenes which to me felt overblown rather than adding to the storyline, which I think really hindered my enjoyment because the nightmare scenes also happened to be the main conceit of the book.
Once the nightmares were clear, the serial killer was pretty obvious and easy to guess from almost the beginning of the novel. Having some familiarity with the locale and the subject matter there were definitely some eye rolling moments for me, but I recognize that perhaps my added knowledge makes me far from the target audience for this novel. 3 stars.
Once the nightmares were clear, the serial killer was pretty obvious and easy to guess from almost the beginning of the novel. Having some familiarity with the locale and the subject matter there were definitely some eye rolling moments for me, but I recognize that perhaps my added knowledge makes me far from the target audience for this novel. 3 stars.
August 24, 2015
I was fortunately on holidays in Victoria and was able to attend a reading and signing for this novel. I enjoyed it very much, authors are my rock stars, lol.
He explained that this novel is dark, with a capital D. I found it to be sad and somewhat depressing at times, but not gruesome. The most uncomfortable part of the novel, for me, was the way the author depicted the homeless, invisible and ignored by the public. Unfortunately, this depiction is accurate. We are all guilty of passing a homeless person on the street without giving that person a second thought. Yes, very bad things happen in this book and there is a dark undertone to the story, but there is also light and hope.
Cassie is a young teenager who has run away from home and is living on the streets of Victoria. The author does a very good job of putting us right there on the streets with her. Cassie has very bad dreams (or does she?). The kind of nightmares that nobody wants to have, but she can't differentiate between dreaming and wakefulness. This makes her an unreliable narrator (one of my favourite kinds of narrators, by the way). The book alternates a bit between Cassie's POV, a killer's POV and a policeman's POV. I really cared about Cassie and was rooting for her throughout the novel, I wanted her to find somewhere warm and comfortable to stay and I wanted her to find someone to care for her and about her. I found the suspense of this novel to be tight and kept turning pages to find out who (or what) was killing young girls.
I would definitely recommend this novel to other readers. If you like Stephen King or Dean Koontz or a good vs evil theme, then this is a book you'll want to pick up. Also, the author is Canadian and I love to support Canadian authors.
"It was like she wasn't even there. Maybe she wasn't. Maybe she had been swallowed up by the world of grey, just another featureless lump in the gutter, something to be swept up by the street cleaners after the holidays. Maybe that was for the best."
He explained that this novel is dark, with a capital D. I found it to be sad and somewhat depressing at times, but not gruesome. The most uncomfortable part of the novel, for me, was the way the author depicted the homeless, invisible and ignored by the public. Unfortunately, this depiction is accurate. We are all guilty of passing a homeless person on the street without giving that person a second thought. Yes, very bad things happen in this book and there is a dark undertone to the story, but there is also light and hope.
Cassie is a young teenager who has run away from home and is living on the streets of Victoria. The author does a very good job of putting us right there on the streets with her. Cassie has very bad dreams (or does she?). The kind of nightmares that nobody wants to have, but she can't differentiate between dreaming and wakefulness. This makes her an unreliable narrator (one of my favourite kinds of narrators, by the way). The book alternates a bit between Cassie's POV, a killer's POV and a policeman's POV. I really cared about Cassie and was rooting for her throughout the novel, I wanted her to find somewhere warm and comfortable to stay and I wanted her to find someone to care for her and about her. I found the suspense of this novel to be tight and kept turning pages to find out who (or what) was killing young girls.
I would definitely recommend this novel to other readers. If you like Stephen King or Dean Koontz or a good vs evil theme, then this is a book you'll want to pick up. Also, the author is Canadian and I love to support Canadian authors.
"It was like she wasn't even there. Maybe she wasn't. Maybe she had been swallowed up by the world of grey, just another featureless lump in the gutter, something to be swept up by the street cleaners after the holidays. Maybe that was for the best."
July 1, 2019
An incredibly well-woven page turner that keeps you guessing. Darker than his novels Before I Wake and Bedtime Story, but as in those books, Robert Wiersema shows he's a fantastic storyteller.
March 1, 2017
I really enjoyed the journey that was this book, the destination was just a bit anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing terribly wrong with the conclusion, I just found it lacking something. Perhaps it boils down to the fact that the storytelling had been so good that the ending seemed too easy?
September 28, 2015
Creepy as hell.
December 19, 2015
A quick read. I liked the horror/mystery, though I did figure out who dunnit pretty easily. The main character is pretty sympathetic.
July 30, 2019
Set in Victoria, BC, this book is based on the experience of a young girl, Cassie, as she tries to navigate the world of the homeless. Cassie has run away from home. She seems to be haunted by terrible, realistic, nightmares, in which she is killing people.
She does find some kind people in this bleak world. Another homeless girl, Laura (Skylark), takes her under her wing and introduces her to the ways of the homeless in this city; where to get food, where to shower, how to find a good spot to panhandle. Also, in a local restaurant, a waitress gives her free meals and a welcoming smile.
There is some mystery here, and a bit of the supernatural. And, a challenge to the reader in how they view the homeless.
She does find some kind people in this bleak world. Another homeless girl, Laura (Skylark), takes her under her wing and introduces her to the ways of the homeless in this city; where to get food, where to shower, how to find a good spot to panhandle. Also, in a local restaurant, a waitress gives her free meals and a welcoming smile.
There is some mystery here, and a bit of the supernatural. And, a challenge to the reader in how they view the homeless.
March 8, 2025
This book introduced me to a new genre, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I couldn't put it down and finished it in a single day! The author struck a unique balance between graphic storytelling and the emotional journey of pain and healing.
The main character was both frustrating and endearing, making them relatable in a way that's hard to describe. This novel is intense and dives into tough subjects like homelessness, abuse, and the predatory figures that exploit those in vulnerable situations.
It's definitely a dark, graphic read, and at times, it can be disturbing or hard to digest. That said, I would still recommend it for those who can handle its weighty themes.
The main character was both frustrating and endearing, making them relatable in a way that's hard to describe. This novel is intense and dives into tough subjects like homelessness, abuse, and the predatory figures that exploit those in vulnerable situations.
It's definitely a dark, graphic read, and at times, it can be disturbing or hard to digest. That said, I would still recommend it for those who can handle its weighty themes.
April 20, 2018
Really enjoyed this book by another new author (for me). A mix between a murder mystery with some supernatural elements mixed in. It really kept me guessing and trying to figure out what was going on; what was real, who was the killer, who would live and who would die? Kept me entertained. It was well written but a quick read as well. It also gives you some insight into the world of young runaways and homelessness in Victoria. A recommended read.
June 13, 2018
I honestly really enjoyed this book ! It kept you wanting more, an easy read and enjoyable. A mix of suspense, murder mystery and dreamers. I would’ve given 5 stars expect for I felt the ending was rushed and I thought it could’ve maybe been more! Loved it though, would probably read again someday.
May 5, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. This was a hard-hitting book, dealing with the homelessness and abuse issues in the lower mainland and the predators that prey on these marginalized people. As a fan of the supernatural, I also love how Wiersema wove this into the story. I definitely recommend.
January 9, 2020
Robert J. Wiersema novel black Feathers follows the life of a seventeen runaway Cassie Weathers who has problems separating dreams from reality.
Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys unique horror novels.
Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys unique horror novels.
September 12, 2017
So disappointed in this book after loving some of his previous books. This one was tedious and needlessly graphic. Needed a good editor - repetition without moving a story forward is so boring!
August 13, 2015
Black Feathers may be an impossible book for me to review. I devoured it in just a few sessions, the text effortless to read and the nonlinear plot compelling, creepy, and chilling. It's dark and speaks of Darkness with a capital D and yet there is always a hint of the light from chapter to chapter.
As the mother of a teen it's always difficult to read something in the "teen girls in jeopardy" motif, but Wiersema provides the girls with strength amid uncertainty.
There's a balance in the plot of predictability and I didn't see that coming and once I sorted out the pattern between the various storylines as they crisscrossed, I could do nothing but watch as the corset laces tightened to draw the plot to a close.
Bottom line, I suspect this will be a book to which I return to devour again.
As the mother of a teen it's always difficult to read something in the "teen girls in jeopardy" motif, but Wiersema provides the girls with strength amid uncertainty.
There's a balance in the plot of predictability and I didn't see that coming and once I sorted out the pattern between the various storylines as they crisscrossed, I could do nothing but watch as the corset laces tightened to draw the plot to a close.
Bottom line, I suspect this will be a book to which I return to devour again.
Read
November 16, 2015I am so disappointed that I cannot finish this book. I read to page 88 and it got too much for me. I can't read books that delve into the minds of murderers or rapists. I don't want to have empathy for people like that. I don't want to know. It's too dark for me.
I may have jumped the gun, but I couldn't finish. As much as I have enjoyed Wiersema's innovative novels and enticing writing, I won't be completing this book.
I may have jumped the gun, but I couldn't finish. As much as I have enjoyed Wiersema's innovative novels and enticing writing, I won't be completing this book.
January 25, 2016
Didn't care for this book. Picked it up at the library because I wanted to read a local author write about Victoria, BC. Though I enjoyed the local references, I found it a slog to read through. For a mystery read, I'd have rather read Edgar Alan Poe (the themes of darkness and crows reminded me of Poe). Disappointed.
August 21, 2015
I'm not sure how to describe this book just yet. It was really exciting and intense, but some of the logic and detective work of the characters was dodgy/they weren't using their brains. Like, we know about criminal profiling now.
September 20, 2015
Another great book by Wiersema, set in Victoria. I enjoyed the creepiness of the book, the Victoria setting and the supernatural elements.
Reviews of this book said it would be scary, and it wasn't as scary as I anticipated.
Great book. I liked the characters and the plot line a lot.
Reviews of this book said it would be scary, and it wasn't as scary as I anticipated.
Great book. I liked the characters and the plot line a lot.
December 22, 2016
By far my least favourite of Wiersema's. The parts about "The Darkness" feel kind of pretentious and cheesy, and I didn't feel there was adequate explanation of why Cassie had so much trouble telling what was real from what wasn't. The parts about being homeless were very realistic and affecting.
December 24, 2015
Freaky and hardcore but in the end it was awesome. A novel one definitely reads more than once because there are so many tiny thrilling details that are easy to miss.
Read
September 13, 2015Terrible book. Gratuitous violence and a story line that was muddled with major inconsistencies in the plot.
Cassie, Brother Paul, Skylark.
Total waste of time.
Cassie, Brother Paul, Skylark.
Total waste of time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to Read
September 29, 2015Didn't crack the cover yet, and have to return to library and re-request.
January 11, 2016
Loved that it was set in Victoria BC in the winter of 1997. I was there! But this horror/mystery about a young female runaway was a bit disjointed and confusing at times.
December 20, 2015
Set in Victoria, BC, follows a young runawa who can't tell her dreams from real life, and a serial killer who is targeting her.
December 24, 2015
I liked this book. Lots of twists. I confess I skimmed a bit of the 'poetry' but it was cohesive enough to keep me turning pages!!
February 7, 2016
I could not put this book down!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews