The Institute by Stephen King

A Horror, 2019 by Scribner, 561 Pages

What I Didn’t Like:

I like originality so when it felt like The Shining or Clockwork Orange I rolled my eyes.
The character we meet and love first takes a big chunk of the book OFF. I spent a lot of time wondering what he had to do with anything and if he’d be coming back.
I felt like the story went on for a few more chapters than it needed to. Of course, I like endings that leave me hanging and keep me thinking so that is likely a personal one.
The pacing felt a little off in the center of this one. It seemed to drag more than I’m used to from this author.

Great characters right away. As is typical for King, these characters have such depth that you feel like you know someone just like this. They feel completely real.
The mystery surrounding back half was well done. You want to know even while being relatively certain you DON’T want to know.
When the two storylines crash together, it works and it’s intriguing.
I like the way the ending came together. I like the big idea the Institute was working under and how that frames an interesting ethical question.
A lot of the choices made important characters feel juvenile, but that’s a GOOD THING since we’re talking about actual children. It’s realistic in that way.

If the idea of a group of kids who have some predisposition to telekinesis or teleportation being brought to a top secret facility intrigues you, you may be just the niche for this one.