The Institute by Stephen King will be akin to coming home for readers familiar with SKs oeuvre. A band of kids working together. An injustice of sorts. A clear bad guy / bad guys situation. A secret government facility. Check check check. Now throw in a touch of supernatural ability in the form of kids with telekinesis or telepathy and you have the basic ingredients of another solid King outing.

The story kicks off when twelve year old Luke Ellis is kidnapped from his home and wakes up at the institute of the title. Luke joins other similarly gifted kids being held at the government sanctioned facility against their will, and they've all been fed the lie they'll be allowed to return home to their families - with their memories wiped of course - after they've served their country.

A familiar pecking order is established as the kids adjust to their surroundings and try to understand what's going on. Naturally there's a little bit of bullying but ultimately firm friendships are formed in true King style, which includes amusing dialogue like this between two of the young characters:

"What if I don't?"
Nicky smiled. "Then I'll fuck you up, fat boy." Page 135

As with any King novel, character development is often the highlight and in The Institute a significant character named Tim Jamieson was established early on that I wanted to explore further. I thought he was the primary protagonist but after disappearing for a large chunk of the book, the character later resurfaces but the care factor had diminished by the intervening pages. This left me feeling a little irritated for investing so heavily in his character arc in the early pages.

The purpose of the secret medical facility is to measure and enhance the abilities of the children in a series of medical exams and terribly invasive tests. This definitely gave me Stranger Things vibes and I was surprised to learn The Institute was published in 2019, three years after the release of season 1 of Stranger Things in 2016. Whether either project was influenced by the other, kids being experimented on in the pursuit of harnessing their gifts for the greater good isn't new.

Ultimately King asks the reader to consider whether the sacrifices of a few gifted children and their families outweighs the potential suffering of hundreds, thousands or perhaps in extreme circumstances, even millions of people.

The big showdown at the end of the novel requires the reader to ball up their disbelief and peg it at the nearest oversized telephone and hope for the best. A solid outing from Stephen King. ( )

It was not a bad book, I actually enjoyed reading it. However, Mr King, I wish you would get some medicine for your TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), I'm frankly tired of writers bringing their political views into their books. We could all do without it. That is why I really think thrice before I pick up a book that you have written after 2016. Get over your hangups. ( )

Started out well. I immediately got to like the character we are introduced to in chapter one. An ex-cop down on his luck finds a job as a night knocker in a small town. King is a great writer and this very first character we meet is very believable. The location, that tiny town has that southern flair we love so much. So, I nodded to myself in affirmation of the promise of a great novel to enjoy. Stage is set - let the games begin. However, once King moves off onto the following chapters, I find that promise broken. All that I found so intriguing and promising gets brushed under the carpet (we realize the ex-cop isn’t the main character and no more of that town I loved). Another character is introduced to us, a boy genius that i don’t find to be a well-rounded character at all, and to add insult to injury is just not believable at all. At that point my suspicions we fully aroused, and I had them fully confirmed with the additional introduction, in chapter three, of a band of super-intelligent kids with psycho kinetic abilities. It then became clear that I had before me just another X-man novel in disguise and it pains me to say, I gave up. Sorry, and this is certainly not the writers fault, but I just can’t abide another novel with the theme - boy and/or girl geniuses with or without outlandish special abilities band together against the unfeeling, hard-ass baddies. The scenario is just so used up and by now has become so very predictable. King produced just another X-man-Hunger games-Maze runner amalgam that, let’s be honest, has been milked for all it is worth, and now it ain’t worth a dime no more, in my book that is. Sorry King, no cigar this time around. ( )

I read this for the "A Stephen King Novel" part of my 2020 reading challenge. I knew I didn't want anything too scary, and this was the perfect book to choose. I really enjoyed the characters and the plot was very easy to follow. I didn't love the ending, but everything still wrapped up nicely and overall it felt complete. ( )

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Still One of My Greats

I have to tell you I am the biggest Stephen King fan but if you read my reviews regularly you know that right.
King writes so well about the innocence of kids. He also writes at his best when the subject is pure evil. Think about what “IT” is all about. When you take pure evil and innocent kids and you slap them together and you have the magic of The Institute. The book starts in a simple little town where a cop passing through takes a job as a night knocker. There's a kid, a really smart kid, who's 12 years old and getting ready to attend MIT because he's, you know, special. That's the setting. From there it gets chilling. Even without ghosts, or vampires or outer space boogie men.

The child, Luke, is taken in the middle of the night. His folks are murdered. He wakes up at The Institute in Maine in a room that's just like his - almost. There are other kids there and he gets the skinny from a young girl in the hallway, seemingly smoking a cigarette. She tells him that they "do stuff" to the kids, injections-flickering lights-dunking, but at least they're in the Front Half. You don't want to go to the Back Half. No, that's like the roach motel. Kids go in and don't ever come out.

To say this is a character study of the people throughout history who have told themselves that the horrible, hideous, atrocious things they do are for a "higher good". This book is King at his best. It's tense and I found myself ill at ease throughout the 500 plus pages. But it's good. A good story, good writing, and yeah, sure, it's relevant in the America of today and about our choices. This is going to be one of those books that I rotate through at least once a year. Five stars all the way.


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