Book Reviews

The Institute

Stephen King

Stephen King is one of those authors in which I will purchase any book that he releases. There are many books of his that I obsess over, but sometimes his endings throw me off in my decision of whether I love the book or not. “The Institute” sat on my shelves for a little while until I was ready to tackle the book reminding myself to be wary of how the book ends.

I happened to really enjoy many aspects of this book. I think that the premise of the company was fascinating and a fully constructed idea. This company kidnaps children who show signs of telepathy or telekinesis and uses their abilities to their advantage. It is very tense in some moments, and you feel nothing but sympathy for the trapped kids. I really enjoyed Luke Ellis’ character. I thought that King introduces him well and gives the audience a chance to see who he is before the kidnapping and how that shapes his stay at the Institute.

The one thing that I would change is Tim’s involvement in the book but lack of participation in the plot. We spend a significant amount of time at the beginning of the book learning about Tim, and then almost the rest of the book is about Luke. Tim returns at the end but is not significant enough to make it necessary for all the exposition. Perhaps he was meant to have more value in an earlier edit of the book, but I feel like I was misled by his character.

What I did absolutely love were the character developments in the children at the Institute. I thought that each one was unique and exciting and had something valuable to bring to the story. Every time I thought about Avery, it conjured such a sweet image in my mind that you just can’t help but love him. And Kalisha is a force to be reckoned with and was far more of a threat than the adults could have ever imagined.

This is King at his best, young leading characters, a big bad entity, and the most horrendous adults you could ever conjure. I would recommend this to people who are already familiar with King’s work because they would be reasonably prepared for his writing style and how he brings about horror. I would not recommend this book to people who are sensitive to children being harmed. I know that no one is ever okay with children being hurt, but if it is hard to separate the fantasy from reality, this may be a challenging read. At the end of the day, I loved the book and wish I could spend more time with the kids, and I think King gave us the ending we have always wanted; something normal.