The Institute
Author: Stephen King
Published by: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 485
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★★
Published by: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 485
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★★
The playground was surrounded by a chain-link fence at least ten feet high, and Luke saw cameras peering down at two of the corners. They were dusty, as if they hadn’t been cleaned in a while. Beyond the fence there was nothing but forest, mostly pines… Whatever the Institute was, it was in the middle of an old-growth forest, which meant in the middle of nowhere. As for the playground itself, his first thought was that if there was ever a prison exercise yard for kids between the ages of six and sixteen, it would look exactly like this.
The girl – Iris – saw them and waved. She double bounced on the trampoline…
‘Sha! Who you got there?’
‘This is Luke Ellis,’ Kalisha said.
‘New this morning.’
The girl – Iris – saw them and waved. She double bounced on the trampoline…
‘Sha! Who you got there?’
‘This is Luke Ellis,’ Kalisha said.
‘New this morning.’
My thoughts:
The Institute is a science fiction-horror thriller novel by American author Stephen King. Deep in the woods of Maine, there is a dark state facility where kids, abducted from across the United States, are incarcerated. In the Institute they are subjected to a series of tests and procedures meant to combine their exceptional gifts - telepathy, telekinesis - for concentrated effect.
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. King’s writing draws you in instantly.
I really liked how King organised the story, beginning with small-town police officer Tim Jamieson and then darting a thousand miles away to tell the tale of Luke Ellis. The two scenarios seem totally unrelated, but of course become brilliantly intertwined later on in the novel.
Luke Ellis is a child prodigy, destined for greatness, when one night he is kidnapped and taken to The Institute, a place where children with special abilities are held captive and subjected to bizarre experiments. In this dark, evil place, all they have is each other as they try to avoid cruel punishments.
Each of the children are thrust into this wildly unpredictable environment and subjected to terrible treatment physically and mentally. The way the children rely on one another to survive makes the story immediately compelling and, as bigger secrets come to light, I couldn’t imagine how children so young could possibly cope with the stress of it all, let alone find a way to ever get out of the Institute. I simply adored the character development. Throughout the book, the plot hints at a whole new level of frustration and distrust of the government.
This book is so atmospheric, gripping and a really fun entertaining read.
It feels a lot like Stranger Things, only much, much darker. The story includes atrocities beyond description yet described in detail, and kids who talk, think and act like adults. The kids are gifted with special powers subjected to cruel experiments and secret government organizations, along with some really action-packed moments as Luke develops an adventurous escape plan.
If you have never read a Stephen King before, this isn’t a bad place to start. If you are a fan, you will find all the signature things that you have enjoyed in his best books. It’s a phenomenal read and the narrator is fantastic. I loved it!
Overall reaction:
The Institute is a science fiction-horror thriller novel by American author Stephen King. Deep in the woods of Maine, there is a dark state facility where kids, abducted from across the United States, are incarcerated. In the Institute they are subjected to a series of tests and procedures meant to combine their exceptional gifts - telepathy, telekinesis - for concentrated effect.
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. King’s writing draws you in instantly.
I really liked how King organised the story, beginning with small-town police officer Tim Jamieson and then darting a thousand miles away to tell the tale of Luke Ellis. The two scenarios seem totally unrelated, but of course become brilliantly intertwined later on in the novel.
Luke Ellis is a child prodigy, destined for greatness, when one night he is kidnapped and taken to The Institute, a place where children with special abilities are held captive and subjected to bizarre experiments. In this dark, evil place, all they have is each other as they try to avoid cruel punishments.
Each of the children are thrust into this wildly unpredictable environment and subjected to terrible treatment physically and mentally. The way the children rely on one another to survive makes the story immediately compelling and, as bigger secrets come to light, I couldn’t imagine how children so young could possibly cope with the stress of it all, let alone find a way to ever get out of the Institute. I simply adored the character development. Throughout the book, the plot hints at a whole new level of frustration and distrust of the government.
This book is so atmospheric, gripping and a really fun entertaining read.
It feels a lot like Stranger Things, only much, much darker. The story includes atrocities beyond description yet described in detail, and kids who talk, think and act like adults. The kids are gifted with special powers subjected to cruel experiments and secret government organizations, along with some really action-packed moments as Luke develops an adventurous escape plan.
If you have never read a Stephen King before, this isn’t a bad place to start. If you are a fan, you will find all the signature things that you have enjoyed in his best books. It’s a phenomenal read and the narrator is fantastic. I loved it!
Overall reaction: