The Institute by Stephen King

Lynnie

Amy    

fiction, thriller

A former police officer gets a feeling that compels him to get off of an airplane and travel north.  In Minneapolis, a child prodigy's parents are murdered and he is kidnapped and taken to a place called The Institute in rural Maine where he meets other special children.  The story unfolds as each begins to understand and learn to operate within their new normal.

Lynnie's Review

I started this book thinking it would take me a few weeks to finish. Stephen King books, in my opinion, are notoriously long and often I find them meandering. That was NOT the case with The Institute- I was fascinated from the first chapter and found myself making excuses to stay awake unfortunately late so I could keep reading. I could not put this book down. This is my favorite King book other than The Stand, I think, and I do not say that lightly.

The Institute has the one thing I hate more than anything else- kids in peril- and yet, I could not stop reading. In the hands of any other writer, I likely would have been so disgusted by the machinations of The Institute that I would not have finished, but in King's world, bad guys are as bad as they can be but good guys are always there offering hope and redemption. In some ways this book actually reminded me of The Stand with the battle of good vs. evil front and center to the story.

As with many King stories, certain unrelated people and events come together serendipitously and when they do in The Institute the story ramps into high gear. It's hard to say too much without spoiling the story or the outcome so really all I can say is that if you are a fan of King's work you need to read this book.

FWIW, Goodreads has this book categorized as "Horror" and I strongly disagree. Creepy- absolutely, violent- yes, but not horror.

Amy's Review

The beginning was alright except for the fact that I read most of it from between my fingers since I wasn’t sure I really wanted to keep reading about children being treated badly. But halfway through, the novel really grabbed me.  And it truly held my attention for the remainder of the novel and contained great writing, suspense, and characters.  But… I never felt that the premise of the story was believable.  I wanted more from this novel based on the buzz around it.  Unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations.