Imaginary Friend cover art

Imaginary Friend

From the author of The Perks Of Being a Wallflower

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

$8.99/mo after trial ends. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

Imaginary Friend

By: Stephen Chbosky
Narrated by: Christine Lakin
Try for $0.00

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.43

Buy Now for $26.43

'Astonishing ... Genius ... A masterpiece'
EMMA WATSON

'Haunting and thrilling'
JOHN GREEN, author of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

* * * * *

IMAGINE...
Leaving your house in the middle of the night.
Knowing your mother is doing her best, but she's just as scared as you.

IMAGINE...
Starting a new school, making friends.
Seeing how happy it makes your mother.
Hearing a voice, calling out to you.

IMAGINE...
Following the signs, into the woods.
Going missing for six days.
Remembering nothing about what happened.

IMAGINE...
Something that will change everything...
And having to save everyone you love.

* * * * *

'Unputdownable ... You'll fall in love with these characters. That's why they stay with you, like a haunting.'
R. J. PALACIO, author of WONDER

'An extraordinary book. The pages practically turn themselves.'
GREER HENDRICKS & SARAH PEKKANEN, authors of THE WIFE BETWEEN US

'A fearsome, remarkably ambitious novel that breaks through the boundaries of the genre to become epic - in all the best senses of the word."
LINCOLN CHILD, #1 New York Times bestseller

'A simply extraordinary reading experience. Utterly unique. A tremendous read, every bit worth the wait.'
BLAKE CROUCH, author of DARK MATTER Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Scary Suspense Paranormal
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic Reviews

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
A haunting and thrilling novel pulsing with the radical empathy that makes Chbosky's work so special
Sure, this unputdownable book is the scariest thing I've read in a long time. 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
Imaginary Friend is a simply extraordinary reading experience. Utterly unique. A tremendous read, every bit worth the wait
An unputdownable, extraordinary book. The pages practically turn themselves
Imaginary Friend has been 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 genre to become epic-in all the best senses of the word
All stars
Most relevant
Really enjoyed this one, Christine did an awesome job of delivering an exciting story with good voices for all (her creepy grandma was great!)
The story was great, had vibes of IT happening with the kids building a tree house, and instead of dealing with a clown, do battle against 'the hissing lady' and a slew of minions (people with zip eyes, spider babies and kids with shadow hands just to name a few)
Had some really good concepts and the runtime was perfect to flesh out the story, but not drag on either.
Perfect amount of detail to draw up the spookometer without going too far into over description and the story took a few unexpecting turns along the way.
Down side I, guess would be that the kids seem to be older than their age, and at times felt like the mum had been lifted from stranger things, but that's pretty minor really.
A good thriller/horror if supernatural horror is your thing.

Wild with imagination

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A solidly written capturing story, the performance is brilliant as well, I highly recommend it!

Good fun story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great reader. the book could have lost many chapters. too much repetition and the same themes repeated. nneeded more editing .

far too long and repetitive

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A wonderful, spooky roller coaster! I feel that the last third of the book drags a little bit but I enjoyed this so much! I don’t know if I would have enjoyed reading it as much as listening, but either way I am so glad I got to enjoy this story. I audibly gasped and had to turn lights on when listening at night when I first started listening, creepy and great!

Gloriously creepy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed it for the first 15 hours..but then it just kept going...very long.

interesting..but VERY long.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.