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Imaginary Friend

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Imaginary Friend

Written by: Stephen Chbosky
Narrated by: Christine Lakin
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From a New York Times bestselling author, a young boy is haunted by a voice in his head in this "epic horror" novel, perfect for fans of Stephen King (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) Fiction Genre Fiction Ghosts Horror Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Haunted Scary Paranormal Exciting Psychological Horror
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What the critics say

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
One of Fall 2019's Best Books (People, EW, LitHub, Vox, Bustle, Washington Post, Associated Press, and more)
"Twenty years after his smash hit novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky returns. . . an ambitious tale narrated through multiple perspectives, mashing together horror, fairy tales and the (rewritten) Bible. . . But Chbosky's true skill is in turning a book of absolute horrors -- both fantastical and real -- into an uplifting yarn. [This is] a book about so much -- fate, destiny, redemption, power. . . Chbosky has his eye firmly on humanity."—New York Times Book Review
"Imaginary Friend is an all-out, not-for-the-fainthearted horror novel, one of the most effective and ambitious of recent years. . . To be sure, the underlying sensibility that characterized 'Wallflower' is present in the new book, particularly in its empathetic portraits of people struggling to recover from personal tragedy. . . Perhaps its most impressive aspect is the confidence with which Chbosky deploys the more fantastical elements of his complex narrative. . . A very human story with universal implications."—Washington Post
"Chbosky's horror writing stands on its own. . . a gleeful meditation. . . the nine years Chbosky reportedly spent writing the book shows in his well-crafted scares, snappy pacing and finely turned plot. Imaginary Friend is well worth the time for those who dare."—TIME Magazine
An epic work of horror. . . Ambitious and compulsively readable. . . a Grand Guignol exploration of what it means to have faith, even in the face of absolute hopelessness. . . His willingness to pursue and present answers to such meaningful queries is what elevates Imaginary Friend from a more than competent attempt at the horror genre to a formidable work on par with other genre operas that also tackle spiritual matters, like Stephen King's 1978 behemoth 'The Stand' or Justin Cronin's 'The Passage' trilogy. Imaginary Friend is a book that far outstrips the expectations of his chosen genre. . . a book full of it's own light."—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A haunting and thrilling novel pulsing with the radical empathy that makes Chbosky's work so special."—John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars
"Like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Imaginary Friend says that no matter how dark the places you have been or the things you have seen, no one and nothing and nowhere is beyond redemption. What is astonishing and laugh-out-loud genius is that Chbosky has disguised all this wisdom in an entertaining thriller. In true Stephen Chbosky style, he gives you the bran and the doughnut. Spiritual enlightenment and horror. I don't know how he did it. But he did it. It's a masterpiece."—Emma Watson, actor and activist
All stars
Most Relevant
The best part of this book by far is the narrator. Like other reviewers have said, this entire book could easily have been half the length and be stronger for it. The author seems to be immensely proud of his comparisons, because once one is made you will hear it at least once every chapter, which ends up being over 100 times (blue moon, frogs boiling, two-by-fours like baby teeth, floods, father son holy ghost,etc, etc). It has heavy Christian themes throughout, and in the final chapters leaves gaping plotholes in order to fully embrace the religion theme. I'm glad I bought this, just so that I can find more by the narrator, but I'll be skipping works by this author.

Narrator makes the story

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My new favorite book and a phenomenal performance by Christine Lakin. Loved every minute of it!!

Intense, scary and thrilling!

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I struggled to finish this one, though I tried several times. I think that the story was good as I was captivated at the beginning and was very interested. though somewhere in the middle I began to lose my drive to listen.

overall great story just wasn't for me !

great story, I just couldn't get into it

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Started off fairly strong but the third act just dragged and dragged. It was a chore to get through and the addition of religious themes was wholly unnecessary. Overall not a great listen.

What a slog

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the writing and performance are very good, the story kicks off into high gear less than 3 hours in and stays there for the entirety of the book

very long

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