''Imaginary Friend'' is a psychological horror novel by American author

Stephen Chbosky Stephen Chbosky (; born January 25, 1970) is an American screenwriter, film producer, film director, novelist, television writer, and television producer. He is best-known for writing the bestselling coming-of-age novel '' The Perks of Being a W ...

. It was published on October 1, 2019 by

Grand Central Publishing Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Ha ...

and was an instant ''New York Times'' Best Seller. It is Chbosky's long-awaited follow-up to the 1999 international best-seller ''

The Perks of Being a Wallflower ''The Perks of Being a Wallflower'' is a coming-of-age epistolary novel by American writer Stephen Chbosky, which was first published on February 1, 1999, by Pocket Books. Set in the early 1990s, the novel follows Charlie, an introverted and obs ...

''.

Plot

Single mother Kate Reese and her son, Christopher, flee an abusive relationship in the middle of the night. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. Initially, Mill Grove seems like the perfect place to settle down. Then Christopher vanishes for six days, until 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 and a resolve to build a treehouse in the woods by Christmas...

Critical reception

A departure from his debut novel, ''Imaginary Friend'' was very well-received and debuted as a ''New York Times'' Best Seller. The review from ''Time'' stated it evoked "echoes of Stephen King" and "well worth the time for those who dare," with additional positive reviews from ''The New York Times'', the ''Kirkus Review'', ''the Washington Post'', NPR and numerous others, as well as being named one of ''Variety''s Top 10 books of 2019.

References

{{Stephen Chbosky 2019 American novels Novels by Stephen Chbosky Grand Central Publishing books Novels set in Pennsylvania American horror novels