Imaginary Friend

by Stephen Chbosky
705 pgs

Christopher's mother, fleeing an abusive relationship, takes her seven-year-old son and moves to the small ton of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. She has no money and no possessions, but she's determined to start a new life for the to of them, safe from the violence and threats she's endured.

But shortly after arriving, Christopher begins hearing voices. They speak to him from the clouds and from a white plastic bag, warning him of the dangers of a "hissing lady." Following the voices, Christopher enters the woods near town one day and disappears. Six days later, when he walks back out of the woods, Christopher has changed. The changes aren't immediately obvious, even to his mother, but they begin to manifest over the coming days and weeks.

Before he went missing, Christopher struggled in school. Numbers and letters always seemed to be jumbled up when he'd see them. But when he returns, they all seem to fall into place, and he quickly begins outperforming all the other students in his class. Christopher is also obsessed with building a tree house in a specific tree back in the woods, a tree house that for some reason, he knows he must finish before Christmas, or something terrible will happen.

Imaginary Friend is a horror story that seems inspired by Stephen King and Stranger Things. It's a fantastical and epic story. It's Chbosky's first book in twenty years, and based on it, even if it takes twenty years to write his next one, I bet it'l be worth the wait.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★