Imaginary Friend

Name: Imaginary Friend
Rating: 6.24 (118 reviews)
ISBN: 9781538731352

From a New York Times bestselling author, a young boy is haunted by a voice in his head in this chilling horror novel, perfect for fans of Stephen King.
"Haunting and thrilling." --John Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

"Epic." --Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will

Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her seven year-old son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night. At first, the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania seems like the perfect place to finally settle down.

Then, Christopher vanishes. Days later, he 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 treehouse 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 readers 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. Read it with the lights on.

One of The Year's Best Books (People, EW, Lithub, Vox, Washington Post, and more!)

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Published Oct 6, 2020

736 pages

Average rating: 6.24

118 RATINGS

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What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Imaginary Friend* by Stephen Chbosky is a complex, ambitious novel that blends horror, suspense, and emotional depth. Many praise its com...

Chethawleyz

Aug 04, 2024

9/10 stars

Loved it. BUT I can see where people were turned off by the twist at the end But I’m a sucker for twists and it went from a horror book to fantasy without me realizing it and it still held up, in my opinion.

Readerholic28

Jul 07, 2024

7/10 stars

One of the more complex books I've read in a long time. I say the author does a good job of articulating his words that gave off a different perspective from the actual ending. It's a pretty long read , but I'd say it was worth it. There are definitely some filler pages that did not add anything beneficial to the story. The story centers around a single mom , and her son Christopher. Currently a widow (her husband killed himself due to the voices in his head) escaping her new abusive boyfriend, her and her son embark on finding a new place to live. A fresh start.They find a small community , and decide to settle there. Then Christopher gets lost in the woods for several days. It's after he's found , alive that his mom soon begins to notice he's different. Not appearance wise , but intellectually and emotionally. Having been a kid who was struggling with basic reading and math assignments , to now passing tests with perfect scores. Christopher has also noticed he's different as well. He also has a new "friend" that only he can see who goes by '" the nice man".

mica88

Apr 01, 2024

4/10 stars

This book was so weird. It started pretty ok and then it just became derailed pretty quickly. Way too long for no reason and repetitive as well. I wouldn’t have been able to finish it without the audiobook.
It’s basically Christopher trying to kill satan.
Definitely not a horror book nonetheless.

Lavender Loves

Aug 30, 2023

4/10 stars

This book really captured me at the start but started losing me halfway in. By 3/4 I was ready for it to hurry up and be over. The religious themes were too strong

Phiarie7

Jun 10, 2023

8/10 stars

Such amazing and creepy details that I hope will be turned into a show or movie one day.