Imaginary friend

Under a cloud

released OUT NOW! 720 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook

Author stephen Chbosky Publisher Orion

Even accounting for the idea of the difficult second novel, two decades between books is quite some gap. This means a lot rests on Hollywood screenwriter/ director Stephen Chbosky’s belated follow-up to his bestseller The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Has it been worth the wait?

With certain caveats, yes. For a start, this is a horror novel that delivers thrills aplenty. More subtly, it’s a novel imbued with an underlying creepiness that arises in great part from its set-up, which finds abused mother Kate Rees fetching up in the community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, along with her son, Christopher.

Kate initially takes residence in a cheap motel. Short on money and searching for a job, she’s nonetheless determined to do the best she can for Christopher, a child she loves with a fierce protectiveness. He’s a goodhearted boy, but also one who has trouble with his lessons.

Then, after Christopher sees a face in the clouds, the duo’s fortunes begin to change, initially for the better – at least, after Christopher turns up again after going missing. This situation won’t last. All hell is about to break loose.

Chbosky first ratchets up the tension, then offers a portrait of a town where all constraints have been lost. It’s not a pretty picture. Underpinning this are two main themes: religious guilt, and the puzzle of what makes one person a visionary and another a psycho.

There’s rather too much going on at times: individual scenes are economically written but the cumulative effect can be overwhelming. More positively, comparisons with Stephen King don’t seem fanciful in terms of Chbosky’s gifts for dialogue and clearly differentiating a big cast of characters. Mostly there’s a sense that he has the tools and talent to become a major fantasy writer. Jonathan Wright

He has the talent to be a major fantasy writer

Other projects Chbosky is currently attached to include a biopic of writer Theodor Geisel – aka Dr Seuss.