Imaginary Friend

By: Stephen Chbosky

Narrated by: Christine Lakin

A young boy is haunted by a voice in his head in this "haunting and thrilling" (John Green) epic of literary horror from the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Christopher is seven years old.

Christopher is the new kid in town.

Christopher has an imaginary friend.

We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us.

Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with her child. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out.

At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six awful days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a tree house in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again.

Twenty years ago, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower made audiences everywhere feel infinite. Now, Chbosky has returned with an epic work of literary horror, years in the making, whose grand scale and rich emotion redefine the genre. Listent to it with the lights on.

©2019 Stephen Chbosky (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Imaginary Friend has been a long time coming. And like a fine Bordeaux, it rewards that wait in countless ways. This is a fearsome, remarkably ambitious novel that breaks through the boundaries of the horror genre to become epic - in all the best senses of the word." (Lincoln Child, number-one New York Times best-selling coauthor of Verses for the Dead and City of Endless Night)

"If you aren't blown away by the first fifty pages of Imaginary Friend, you need to get your sense of wonder checked." (Joe Hill, number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Fireman and NOS4A2)

"Imaginary Friend is a sprawling epic horror novel that hearkens back to the classics of the 1970s Golden Age, but, like Stranger Things, with a twinkle in its malevolent eye. Enormous, scary fun." (Dan Chaon, best-selling author of Ill Will)

A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Books of 2019

One of the scariest books I've heard in years

I went into this not really knowing anything about the author or the premise. I never read "perks of being a wallflower" and didn't hold out excessive hope for being truly scared a la "the shining." Also, it's a verrrrrry long book. This is something I typically prefer but wasn't sure how a horror novel could sustain itself over so many hours.
I. Loved. It.
I'd rather not give anything away about the plot because I think that part of my enjoyment came from having no expectation. I will say that I thought the pacing was excellent and the narration superb. I cared about all of the characters and could easily tell them apart by the voice acting. The moments which were meant to be tense absolutely were and when it was meant to build or fall, it did. If it were made into a television show, this book could easily last three seasons- there is a LOT of time and story covered. Although, if you're like me and have a lengthy commute, you wont mind a bit. Unfortunately, I did find that my 5am dog walks on a long dark road, with woods on either side, became less enjoyable.
Highly recommended.

Worth it.

I was not a fan of Perks, so I was a little wary of Imaginary Friend, but I really loved this book. Every character was well-rounded and important, making the sleepy little town come alive with people you could imagine passing on your own street. The plot was imaginative and demanding. Although some pieces seemed to be dragged out for no reason, and the ending just a tad convoluted, I would highly recommend this. It’s always a treat when an author can write out of their usual genre!

Too religious

The story starts off great and has good characters. It seems like a good fantasy story. Without spoiling the story for you it takes an unbearably religious fork near the end that almost ruined the story for me. I still gave it 3 stars because it was a well written story and I didn’t have to force myself to finish it.

Too long

The good: Fantastic narration. The author did a great job setting mood. He also did a good job with characters' thoughts and inner voices. Some reviews compared this to Stephen King and I agree -- reminiscent of King in his prime. The author was also good at making eerie, disturbing imagery without being overtly twisted or gory.
The not-so-good: Very loooong. The book could easily lose 5-10 hours and probably be better for it. I almost wrote that the plot is too rambling, but that isn't quite right. It doesn't really ramble. There seems to be intent behind every twist and turn; there's just no good reason for them. And finally, it's just too apocalyptic and biblical for my taste. Not that either is necessarily bad, just not my thing. I was more turned off by the apocalyptic aspect than the biblical one, but if you don't like religion incorporated into your good vs. evil epics, you might not enjoy this one.

A Bold Direction

I wasn't expecting the book to go into the direction that it did and it worked for me surprisingly. However, it was a tad longer than it needed to be and I blame the author's writing style for this. Stephan is really big on repetitive diglog and sayings. I prefer more concise, poignant sentence structure that doesn't say more than it needs to in order to deliver its meaning. This may not be a big deal for some but it didn't work for me.

That aside though, I thought the characters were fully realized and the themes ended up working for me. The ending was a little lackluster in that it was pretty safe and predictable. I would have preferred the ending to be as bold as the direction the book steered into about 2/3rds through.

Christine Lakin is amazing though. She really gets into the people she's performing.

4/5 from me.

GREAT Story

I loved this story! It was riveting, and kept me engaged the whole time. I am a picky reader, and this was just incredible. I am sad the story is over, but it is absolutely amazing. Classic good vs. evil with a good M. Night Shamalan style twist.

I couldn’t get past the narrator

I haven’t actually finished this. The story up to my stopping point was good and I’m going to have to make time to read it in print. The narrator’s Ss whistle and it was just too much for me.

Gripping!

This story will creep into your nightmares. Non stop, roller coaster ride into the world of demented imagination. If you think Stephen King is creepy, be prepared to step over him and start running for your life!

SO DISAPPOINTED

I cant imagine that Chbosky will ever write another book, as I'm pretty sure he has used all his words on this one. It began with such promise, but then drone on and on and on and on and on,(you get the picture) The narration, on the other hand, was stellar. Brava Christine Lakin, you were the reason for any and all stars.

WOW!

Don't believe I ever read a book such as this. There were times I wanted to return it, but I became so interested, I wanted to find out what the outcome would be. Glad I did. This author is a phenomenal storyteller! Perfect narrator. Great read!