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

Stephen Chbosky Stephen Chbosky (; born January 25, 1970) is an American film director, screenwriter, and author. He is best-known for writing the bestselling coming-of-age novel '' The Perks of Being a Wallflower'' (1999), and writing and directing its 2012 fi ...

. 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 Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

and was an instant ''New York Times'' Best Seller.

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. In 2023, the book was banned, in Clay County District Schools, Florida.

References

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