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. Luke Ellis is the latest recruit. He’s just a regular 12-year-old, except he’s not just smart, he’s super-smart. And he has another gift which the Institute wants to use… 

Far away in a small town in South Carolina, former cop Tim Jamieson has taken a job working for the local sheriff. He’s basically just walking the beat. But he’s about to take on the biggest case of his career. 

Back in the Institute’s downtrodden playground and corridors where posters advertise ‘just another day in paradise’, Luke, his friend Kalisha and the other kids are in no doubt that they are prisoners, not guests. And there is no hope of escape. But great events can turn on small hinges and Luke is about to team up with a new, even younger recruit, Avery Dixon, whose ability to read minds is off the scale. 

While the Institute may want to harness their powers for covert ends, the combined intelligence of Luke and Avery is beyond anything that even those who run the experiments – even the infamous Mrs Sigsby – suspect.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

The Institute is another book that’s been sitting on my shelf for a while. As one of his more recent novels, it leans away from the traditional horror that King is known for and leans more into thriller territory. As a favourite author, you’ll be seeing more of his books on my alphabet reading challenge, though strictly only books that I’ve not read yet.

I know that a lot of readers of Stephen King’s books are only fans of certain “phases” of his writing. And I get that, as there are definite, differing styles to his work, but I’ve generally been a fan of most of his books. This one was a marked shift, fusing psychological issues, child abduction and small town cop stories all together in a tight, tense thriller. Children showing signs of telekinetic and telepathic abilities are abducted, tested and experimented upon to enhance their abilities, and used to “save the country, if not the world”. Precognitives predict the people and points in time that will have significant harm on the world, and use the combined power of these gifted children to remove them before they cause any issues.

It’s a fantastic read, with a tense narrative as one cohort of the children comes together to attempt an escape and bring about the downfall of The Institute. It’s a satisfying read, with a brilliant conclusion, though it ends in a way that really leaves you thinking. King raises ethical questions around the idea that are the lives of a few thousand children around the world worth saving versus the lives of billions around the world? It’s a tough question, and certainly not one that’s easy to answer, but there is definitely something about a book that leaves you scratching your head!

My rating: