The Institute - Stephen King

The Institute

By Stephen King

  • Release Date: 2019-09-10
  • Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 6,137 Ratings

Description

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King whose “storytelling transcends genre” (Newsday) comes “another winner: creepy and touching and horrifyingly believable” (The Boston Globe) about a group of kids confronting evil.

In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. “You check in, but you don’t check out.”

In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is “first-rate entertainment that has something important to say. We all need to listen” (The Washington Post).

Reviews

  • Phenomenal

    5
    By Adizzle 826
    This is one of, if not the best book I’ve read in my life thus far!
  • Politics

    2
    By /6%5+8
    Huge fan of SK over the years but his politics are ruining his work. Just the scares please!
  • The Institute

    4
    By eaglerivertracy
    Great book. The adult responses to the situations and the villains were silly, though, and underwhelming for what they were guilty of.
  • Hated the whole ending

    3
    By furnaceroadblue
    This was a good read all the way for me except for the ending. I wanted the ending to be like the written equivalent of a juicy cheese burger, a small bag of chips, a strawberry shake and my favorite candy for dessert. Instead I got a flat piece of plain white toast. (People in small towns are not nice, they’re mean. They know what they are going to do to newcomers as soon as they see them. They come to it quick. Like a middle school Algebra 1 equation solve for X and heaven help the homeless or a drifter. I would have liked to have seen more of that in the story also to draw me into the fantasy of it more. Great writing though for sure, enjoy it.)
  • Meaningful Plot w/ Passionate Characters

    5
    By quepasaginger
    This book did not fail to deliver a wonderfully immersive story. I felt the motivation and passion that the characters felt. The story was a great combination of fiction and fact leaving the reader to wonder if this truly could be.
  • Pure King

    5
    By Scott_A_Miller
    5 Stars. When King writes kids, you can’t go wrong. This felt like all of his best always did. Characters you loved, characters you hated more. What a fantastic STORY. Luke seems like he might have a future story or two in him. Really all of the survivors. I wonder what might happen if Luke met Holly Gibney? Hmm. Stephen King being Stephen King. Absolutely incredible.
  • Great!!

    5
    By ALLISON ISABEL FELICIANO
    Awesome book, couldn’t put it down—
  • King

    5
    By 21st Century Seeker
    5 stars.
  • Politics

    1
    By Lord Abbott
    Leave your petty immature political jabs out of it
  • Good story

    5
    By Gatorboy19@
    I’ve been an avid SK reader since Carrie when I was in elementary school. Although his stories never bore or disappoint me, I’m disappointed in SK himself for the numerous jabs at Trump and conservatives in general. I mean, I get it. He’s a liberal. But I read to escape the world for a bit, not be immersed in politics. Get over it!

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