Book Review: The Institute

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. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

I haven't read a Stephen King novel since I was in high school. And the last one I remember reading was Dolores Claiborne. (I tried reading It in college, but didn't get very far.) My decision to read The Institute was based on one factor initially...Santino Fontana (a.k.a. Greg from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) was narrating the audio book.

When it started, I wasn't sure what to expect or where it was going. It was about this man named Tim who decided to give up his seat on a plane for some perks and then to make his way through the country by foot or by hitchhiking. It seemed to have nothing to do with what I read in the synopsis. However, once the story came around to Luke, it got into full swing pretty quickly. The kidnapping was horrific in itself, but what happens behind the doors of The Institute is worse than anything you could imagine. And yet I couldn't stop listening!

I became emotionally attached to Luke and worried for him throughout the story. He was a really compelling character. I loved the camaraderie between Luke and the other kids at The Institute, whom I also cared about. There were so many interesting characters and even some of the "bad guys" got their own narrative, which was chilling, to say the least. I don't want to say what happens as to not spoil anything, but I liked where the story went and how Tim eventually fit in.

What really helped this story along was the audio narration. I don't know if I would have read such a long story (19 hours!!!) in print, but listening added a new dimension. Santino Fontana did an amazing job with it. Even better than he did with Caroline Kepnes' novels, and I feel almost traitorous saying that. Sometimes I even forgot he was narrating because he did so many character voices that it felt like there were so many other people involved. Not only did he do their voices for dialogue, but also for their narratives. I really loved the personality he added to "Orphan Annie" by giving her a certain distinct voice. I also loved Maureen.

What didn't work so well for me were the visualizations. I appreciated the descriptions that made everything feel like it happening right in front of me, but some factors of the story were so bizarre that they felt difficult to visualize. Especially when a lot of things were happening at once. Again, to avoid spoilers, I'm not going to say what exactly I'm talking about. Also, the ending felt a bit anticlimactic after everything that had happened in the story, but it also felt good to get to that point. I guess I was hoping for some final twist that would blow my mind.

Overall, this was an incredibly written and narrated story. It's perfect for fans of Stranger Things, The OA, Manifest, and some of King's previous novels, such as Carrie and The Green Mile. It also reminded me of The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond in some ways. I may have to go back and check out some of the King novels I've missed in the past, now that I've been reminded what he's capable of.

Side note: I enjoyed King's subtle digs at a certain presidential figure, as well as commentary of what is going on in our country.

While this would be really hard to watch as a movie, especially due to some gory parts, I did have some casting ideas in mind.

Tim: Mark Duplass
Orphan Annie: Meg Foster
Wendy: Katherine Moennig
Mrs. Sigsby: Kristin Scott Thomas
Tony: Seann William Scott
Stackhouse: Michael Cerveris
Maureen: Lili Taylor
Luke: Max Charles
Kalisha: Eris Baker
Avery: Elias Harger
Nick: Peter DaCunha


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