I received this book from the author/publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First off, I'd like to state my rating of this book is not because I was comparing it to Perks. I went into this book fully aware it was a very different genre then the previous, and I honestly didn't really know what to expect. While the writing in here was fine, and I'm sure for some people more versed in horror thrillers than me, there may have been some great writing and story play, I just overall did not enjoy my reading experience with this book hence the low rating.

Imaginary Friend follows the life of seven-year-old Christopher Reese and his mother Kate as they flee Kate's abusive boyfriend and end up making a home in Mill Grove, Pennsylvania - a small town with a close-knit community and most importantly, a safe place for a new start. Things don't go to plan when Christopher disappears for almost a week and when he reappears, he's not the same. Now he hears a hissing woman and sees a nice man, and he's aware that something bad is coming for everyone in the town in a terrible battle between good and evil.

Hmm, where to start? The writing and the characters in this I did really enjoy. I definitely felt a very instant connection to Christopher, who is genuinely a very sweet little boy who loves his mom, and Kate is that courageous lioness of a mother you'd expect her to be while still being really brave to new beginnings and romantic relationships. I loved Christopher's relationship with Special Ed and the M&M's - Stephen Chbosky is excellent at building up such lovely personalities in his characters that just wrap around your heart. He also showed his skill in this book at some not-so-nice characters like Mrs Collins and Brady and Jenny. Mrs Henderson and Miss Latzo also fell into this grey area where they were both good and bad because of circumstance but still redeemable.

I enjoyed the start of this book and the build-up to Christopher's disappearance and just what it was all about. Some of the twists and turns, and reveals, were cleverly done as well but I think sometimes when it comes to children in horror, things get a bit ridiculous that I don't find scary - such as the clouds, and the white plastic bag.

I'm still a newbie when it comes to horror and I don't have a vast array of titles under my belt yet so I'm still figuring out what I like to read about in the genre and this type of horror I think just wasn't quite it - from how ridiculous some of the scenarios got (though I could definitely feel the horror and how scary it would be if a town got sick and mad at the same time). I didn't really like how messy everything got - it kind of felt like it was in a room full of brawling, screaming people and honestly, it really made my mind feel very cluttered and like I wanted to just sit in some quiet space or meditate for a while.

I'm not a fan of extremely religious books, and I didn't like how this book slowly started to reveal all the religious undertones. I didn't find the last couple of pages very surprising but also I was a bit like wtf.

A lot of the characters in this book, particularly the women, had abusive storylines or pasts attached to them and I just didn't like how people acted towards the women and talked to them. It actually felt a bit dated. From abusive fathers and mothers, to sexual assault (including the molestation/sexual assault of a child by a sibling), drinking problems, shitty husbands and abortion (I didn't like the language used around abortion at all - how it was implied to be wrong/dirty/murder). The pressure on Mary Katherine's virginal state was a bit nauseating and honestly the lack of information/knowledge she seemed to possess around sex, sexual acts, and even simple things like pregnancy tests were all unbelievable for me. I didn't like how Mary Katherine's character was used.

This book is also HORRENDOUSLY long. Way, way, way too long! Things felt like they began reaching a peak at 50% through and then it just kept going and going and going. I'm a fast reader and I found this book very long, and was very aware when I was reading it how long it was. So I can't imagine how a slower reader would feel. I do think personally, I prefer reading longer books in physical format so I can see the pages I've read and how much I've left. So maybe I wouldn't have felt this if I had a physical book.

Maybe this book would be perfect for some fans of the horror genre, those who like the classics, and horror focusing on religion and an archaic form of good versus evil. It just didn't do much for me.

I also couldn't figure out what happened at the end. Did everyone forget, was everyone miraculously healed? It seemed like some people 'died' several times and then they were fine. How did the community go on knowing they were some sort of hotspot for hell. Why was Mill Grove Woods chosen in the first place for this? So many questions.