Kirkus Reviews
2019-07-15
Two decades after his debut novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999), Chbosky returns with a creepy horror yarn that would do Stephen King proud.
"Mom? Will he find us?" So asks young Christopher of his mother, Kate, who has spirited him away from her abusive mate and found a tiny town in Pennsylvania in which to hide out. Naturally, her secret is not safe—but it's small potatoes compared to what Christopher begins to detect as he settles in to a new life and a new school. His friends, like him, are casualties, and that's just fine for the malevolent forces that await out in the woods and even in the sky, the latter the place where Christopher comes into contact with a smiling, talking cloud that lures him off into the ever dark woods. "That's when he heard a little kid crying," writes Chbosky, and that's just about the time the reader will want to check to be sure that no one is hiding behind the chair—or worse, and about the scariest trope of all, which Chbosky naturally puts to work, under the bed. Christopher disappears only to turn up a little less than a week later, decidedly transformed. But then, so's everyone in Mill Grove, including his elementary school teacher, who harbors an ominous thought: "Christopher was such a nice little boy. It was too bad that he was going to die now." As things begin to go truly haywire, Chbosky's prose begins to break down into fragments and odd punctuation and spelling, suggesting that someone other than the author is in control of the fraught world he's depicting. One wonders why Kate doesn't just fire up the station wagon and head down the Pennsylvania Turnpike rather than face things like a "hissing lady" and a townsman who has suddenly begun to sport daggerlike teeth, but that's the nature of a good scary story—and this one is excellent.
A pleasing book for those who like to scare themselves silly, one to read with the lights on and the door bolted.
Publishers Weekly
07/15/2019
Chbosky’s ambitious second novel (after 1999’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower) is a tale of good vs. evil that never gels. Seven-year-old Christopher and his mother, Kate, move to Mill Grove, Pa., after Kate leaves her abusive boyfriend. Kate gets a job at an old folks’ home, and Christopher, who has a learning disability, starts second grade and makes friends with a boy nicknamed Special Ed. One day, Christopher disappears into the Mission Street Woods; he emerges six days later, unscathed—but his learning disability has disappeared. Kate then wins the lottery and buys a new house bordering the woods, where a disembodied voice tells Christopher to build a tree house. Before long, Christopher gets debilitating headaches and strange revelations, a mysterious sickness spreads throughout the community, and a terrifying entity dubbed “the hissing lady” lurks around town. Chbosky brings deep humanity to his characters and creates genuinely unsettling tableaux, including a nightmarish otherworld that Christopher accesses via his treehouse, but considerable repetition extends the narrative while diminishing its impact. Christian overtones (some subtle, others less so) are pervasive, especially in the finale, and add little to the story. This doorstopper is long on words but short on execution. Agent: Eric Simonoff, William Morris Endeavor. (Oct.)
Good Housekeeping
If you grew up reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, you won't want to miss this spooky, surreal thriller. . . You'll feel locked in the battle between good and evil as Kate and Christopher fight for their lives.
Washington Independent
With Imaginary Friend, Stephen Chbosky has written another classic, setting a new high watermark for fantasy horror. It is the greatest story ever told of love and salvation in which a little child shall save them. It is as spine-tingling sinister as a Stephen King tome, as ghastly as any ghost story by Peter Straub, as gothic as any Neil Gaiman title. It should become a horror perennial, taken out at Halloween and Christmas or any other time a reader wants a proper fight.
LitHub
The author of Perks of Being a Wallflower goes full Stephen King in his new supernatural thriller of epic proportions. . . This is my kind of Christmas novel!
#1 New York Times bestselling author Lincoln Child
A fearsome, remarkably ambitious novel that breaks through the boundaries of the horror genre to become epic.”
From the Publisher
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
One of Fall 2019's Best Books (People, EW, LitHub, Vox, Bustle, Washington Post, Associated Press, and more)
New York Times
Chbosky’s true skill is in turning a book of absolute horrors—both fantastical and real—into an uplifting yarn.”
Variety
It's not just horror that Stephen Chbosky is tackling: it's religion, too [which] makes the world-building all the more richer...not a light read, but it is a thrilling one.
NPR
In Imaginary Friend, Chbosky squeezes horror from everyday life.”
New York Times Book Review
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.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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.
Washington Post
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.
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Wonder R. J. Palacio
Sure, this unputdownable book is the scariest thing I've read in a long time. Mysterious woods. Evil forces. Unseen worlds. But it's also, like everything Chbosky does, imbued with heart and soul. You'll fall in love with these characters. That's why they stay with you, like a haunting.
bestselling author of Ill Will Dan Choan
Imaginary Friend is a sprawling epic horror novel that hearkens back to the classics of 1970s Golden Age, but, like Stranger Things, with a twinkle in its malevolent eye. Enormous, scary fun.
#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault John Green
A haunting and thrilling novel pulsing with the radical empathy that makes Chbosky's work so special.
New York Times bestselling author of A Dark Matter Blake Crouch
Imaginary Friend is simply extraordinary reading experience — it reminded me of discovering a classic Stephen King novel from two decades ago, but all funneled through Chbosky's utterly unique style. A tremendous read, every bit worth the wait.
#1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Wife Greer Hendrick & Sarah Pekkanen
An unputdownable, extraordinary book. Stephen Chbosky manages to combine the heart and emotion that suffuses all of his work with Stephen King chills. The pages practically turn themselves.
#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Firema Joe Hill
If you aren't blown away by the first fifty pages of Imaginary Friend, you need to get your sense of wonder checked.
#1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Verses f Lincoln Child
Imaginary Friend has bee 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.
AudioFile
Christine Lakin’s superb narration of this horror novel from the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower immerses listeners in the gruesome…Lakin is exceptional in portraying the story’s many characters…[and] as Christopher uncovers mysteries, Lakin’s multifaceted voice creates a mood of dread. Despite the work’s length, Lakin keeps listeners engaged. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
TIME Magazine
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.
Booklist
Reminiscent of the epic novels of Stephen King. . . With multiple points of view that probe the thoughts and nightmares of characters from all over town, this is an immersive read that walks the line between dark fantasy and horror [and] reads like a season of Stranger Things. . . [Imaginary Friend] will sell itself to readers who have waited twenty years for a new novel from Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, 1999), but horror fans will also be curious. A big, scary book.
The Millions
“Imaginary Friend is not just a horror story; it’s also a deeply religious book…Ultimately, Imaginary Friend celebrates the best of human qualities: love, devotion, and goodness.”
actor and activist Emma Watson
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.
OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile
Christine Lakin’s superb narration of this horror novel from the author of THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER immerses listeners in the gruesome. Christopher and his mother, Kate, finally settle in Pennsylvania after years of moving around. But what they thought was a safe and secure home turns out to be a playground for something sinister. When Christopher disappears for six days in the forest, Kate never expects it will be the start of a battle against evil forces. Lakin is exceptional in portraying the story’s many characters: seven-year-old Christopher, fierce Kate, an intrepid sheriff, a soft-voiced gentleman dubbed the “Nice Man,” and the “hissing lady.” As Christopher uncovers mysteries, Lakin’s multifaceted voice creates a mood of dread. Despite the work’s length, Lakin keeps listeners engaged. A.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
