Imaginary Friend
Books | Fiction / Horror
3.3
(800)
Stephen Chbosky
Instant New York Times BestsellerOne of Fall 2019's Best Books (People, EW, Lithub, Vox, Washington Post, and more)A young boy is haunted by a voice in his head in this acclaimed epic of literary horror from the 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 long 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 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.
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More Details:
Author
Stephen Chbosky
Pages
720
Publisher
Grand Central Publishing
Published Date
2019-10-01
ISBN
1538731347 9781538731345
Ratings
Google: 3.5
Community ReviewsSee all
"I came back to write an updated review now that I’ve finished the book completely. Buy it, read it, please. You won’t regret it. I’ll admit this is the first horror book I’ve read, but it’s opened a whole new genre for me. It literally sucked me in from the first chapter, till the end. And this book is THICK. Totally worth every word. I don’t want to spoil it but there we’re chapters that were so mindfucking that I literally had to stop reading and process. I was so disgusted at points, I didn’t"
"Maybe it's just 2020 but I'm having a hard time finding books that scare me lately. Most authors have to resort to disgusting scenarios evolving kids, gore or rape. So I was quite surprised with the child like fear I felt while listening to this audiobook without the unpleasantness of said scenarios. Chbosky did a great job with mixing real life fears with make believe. Also it didn't help me sleep at night that Christine Lakin was too good at her narration. <br/><br/>This story was conflicting but in a good way. It felt like hope around every corner but with a lingering itch of doom on your skin. Not what I was expecting at all. For me it stayed interesting throughout and I couldn't guess at all what would happen next. Of course you can't have a mystery thriller without some good twist. They didn't blow my socks off but definitely shot my eyebrows up a everytime haha.<br/><br/>The ending twist was especially great it opened up my mind and rearranged my thoughts which always is an A+ for any story telling. This plot brought back many childhood nightmares as well. You could feel the agonizing people in the story trapped by there own making. It also has many pov's but it wasn't overwhelming and was nicely paced.<br/><br/>So true story I rounded a corner in my house while listening to the book and their my husband was. So as I jumped out of my skin, I then proceeded to get super angry, ran and turned on every light along the way even though it was daylight. I still don't forgive him for doing absolutely nothing just being in the wrong place at the wrong time......"
"This book is superbly written. It drew me in, and wouldn’t leave till I finished it. I love this author’s first work, PoBaW, though I am not normally a fan of this genre. I decided to give it a try despite warnings from my friends that this might be the scariest book they ever read. It did not disappoint! It was incredibly easy to read and a real page turner. I cannot believe this is only Chbosky’s second book and such a direct turn from the genre of his first novel, such a talent for horror."
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