He still talks to him all the time, like an imaginary friend. After investigating, the police determine that he must have just gotten lost and hallucinated or dreamed up this 'nice man.' Christopher knows this isn't true however, because the nice man hasn't left him. He can't remember anything that happened to him in the woods excepts for a hazy recollection of a 'nice man' that helped him find his way out. He's suddenly quite smart, begins to excels academically, and knows personal details about people just by looking at them. When he finally returns to his mother, he's different.

Not long after arriving, Christopher is led by a series of mysterious events to the woods surrounding his new town. He loves his mother dearly though, and is determined to make the best of his situation. He's a kind boy and a good son, but a learning disability has caused him to struggle in school and made him a target for bullies. Christopher is used to moving - he's traveled with his mom several times over the past couple of years as she made her way through a string of abusive men after his father committed suicide. The story centers around Christopher Reese, a young boy who moves to a small Pennsylvania town with his mother, Kate, at the start of the novel. I was also interested to see how Chbosky's writing style worked in this genre, which was completely different from the young adult contemporary novel he made his name with.

I was excited to get started, as I hadn't read a horror novel in a while, and I was looking forward to getting lost in a dark, suspenseful page-turner. *This review will contain mild spoilers.*Īfter rereading The Perks of Being a Wallflower for my Then Versus Now Challenge, I started in on Stephen Chbosky's newest (and only other) novel, Imaginary Friend.

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky