Stolen Tongues (2017) by Felix Blackwell

I discovered Felix Blackwell through a Facebook group dedicated to readers of horror fiction. Apparently, this novel started life as a series of short stories posted on the NoSleep Forum on Reddit. NoSleep is a forum where authors can share stories for free to over 11 million readers. Using his fiancé’s real-life sleep disorder as inspiration, Blackwell wrote these series of stories, ironically titled “My Romantic Cabin Getaway.” The stories went viral, proving to be so popular that he fleshed it out into a full-length novel that has already been optioned for a motion picture adaptation.

Stolen Tongues is at its core a haunting/possession novel. In quite the meta touch, Blackwell has not only written the book in first person, but has further placed himself into the plot by name, making himself the main protagonist. Felix and his fiancé, Faye, go to her family’s long-held mountain cabin for a romantic weekend getaway to celebrate their recent engagement. The cabin is located on Pale Peak, an isolated location in the heavily wooded Colorado mountain wilderness that was once the home for an Indigenous Native American tribe. The couple have arrived at the onset of a snowstorm and things go downhill quickly from there.

Almost immediately Felix and Faye find themselves trapped and alone in the snow storm. During the first night they think they sense and hear someone outside of the cabin but find no evidence of such the next morning. While on a hike the next day they come across a giant dreamcatcher in a nearby tree. That night things escalate very quickly with audible voices in the night, the shadows of something very large walking through the woods surrounding the house, and worst of all, Faye begins to go through nocturnal changes while sleeping, including carrying on one-sided conversations with an unseen being.

These nocturnal encounters with the spirit world are intense and legitimately earn the scares that support the book’s reputation. Faye’s otherworldly behavior reminded me of the Evil Dead film series, especially its more recent non-comedic entries. Through the introduction of some Native American characters we learn that the entity Felix and Faye are confronting is known as The Imposter, an Indigenous demon/spirit who communicates and gleans information through entering dreams. This spirit being is known by their people to have been historically active in the area where the family cabin is situated. Further it appears that an earlier trip to the cabin as a child is at the root of Faye’s sleep disorder as The Imposter is seeking knowledge from Faye that can be used against her.

There is no denying that the sequences involving The Imposter are both intense, unsettling, and genuinely terrifying. However, once introduced, the book sets a pattern of repeating these confrontations over and over again without adding much new to them. Eventually the couple succeed in escaping the cabin only to have The Imposter follow them home into their urban environment where everything continues. But again, it just keeps repeating variations of the same assault night after night, which becomes a bit tiresome.

Blackwell is a strong storyteller and his prose is both effective and involving. My only complaint is the repetitive similarity of everything. I also found the climax to be anti-climactic and rushed. There’s no denying the chills and an effective mounting and  palpable sense of dread that the author generates. It unfortunately hits its fear peak early and then plateaus with no further escalation. The central mystery of why Faye has been targeted was also a bit tenuous for me. All that said, if you’re looking for something that’s guaranteed to creep you out and cause chills, you could do a lot worse than Stolen Tongues. 

Review by Steve Carroll