Matthew Dicks's Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend spins the tale of eight-year-old Max's imaginary friend Budo. Both unique and touching, Dicks has created a lifelike plot and complex characters that never feel contrived or forced. Budo's battle between promoting his own existence and saving Max echoes a morality struggle readers face in real life; though about an imaginary friend, a novel never spoke to adult readers so well! 
 The ending is fleshed out and complicated. (view spoiler)[The ambiguity surrounding the epilogue is both frustrating and perfect: there is no answer for what happens after death, for humans or imaginary friends. Has Budo become Dee's imaginary friend? Are they together in some afterlife? We don't know. (hide spoiler)] Budo's fear of disappearing parallels the natural human worry about death and what happens after, a nice metaphorical touch that keeps this book grounded in adult realities despite its seemingly-childlike appearance.