It's so hard to assign this book a star rating. I've never fallen in love with a book so quickly only to begin to absolutely loathe it and wish it was over at literally the 50% mark.

Imaginary Friend owes a hell of a lot to Stephen King, for better and for worse. The first half is a great example of the way King begins to spin an epic story. We get a sense of this small town and all the various pressures brooding inside it, a compelling cast of characters being pulled in opposing directions, and a central supernatural mystery that we're slowly drip-fed answers to. At it's best it's reminiscent of Pet Sematary, Lisey's Story, and very much IT. There are also shades of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean At The End Of The Lane.

Unfortunately Chbosky completely fails to deliver on this strong start. If King is famous for occasionally writing himself into a corner and letting things fall apart at the end, Chbosky takes this to entirely new levels. The denouement is an incoherent mess, and I found myself eyeing the % marker on my Kindle begging the numbers to rise faster so that I could finally be done with it all.

I have problems with some big plot holes and the way that some elements are resolved but I'm not going to delve into them here because we'll be here all day. Suffice it to say that I finished this book very disappointed and relieved that it was finally over, and the only impression it left on me was that I want to go and reread some of my favourite King novels to get the taste out of my mouth.

Two and a half stars purely because the first half is really good and compelling, but I can't recommend this in good conscience.