Book Review: The Institute by Stephen King

The Institute by Stephen King

Hardcover, 561 pages

Published September 2019 by Scribner

A new Stephen King book is still an event even though he is probably in the triple digits in releases at this point. I put this book on hold at the library the day it was ordered and was in the first round of people who got it and I managed to stay spoiler free. I am glad I read it that way. I have a very mixed feelings when it comes to Stephen King. As an author and figure in the genre and the tradition of story tellers I love him. I think he has written more than his share of masterpieces. I think he is a better short story and novella writer, but when he is firing he is one of the best.

The thing is I have not liked many of his 21st century novels as our styles are a bit like oil and water. King overwrites and without a plan, in lesser hands those are cardinal sins to me, but he is one of the few I come back too who does that stuff. That said I generally feel his novels are 200/300 pages too long. Dr. Sleep and 11/22/63 is my favorite of the last few years but when I read and reviewed The Outsider I was pretty disappointed as the novel started well and fizzled out. That said I quickly read it so I was very willing to read this new one.

When you have a half century of very productive writing under your belt as SK does it should not be a surprise that he recycles ideas. This has some of the Firestarter DNA, The Institute is pretty much The Shop from that novel. Here we have a secret government off shoot that is kidnapping kids. The kids are being developed for remote viewing experiments. Unlike the earlier novel this one hits at a global conspiracy. In that sense it reminded me he 70's horror classic The Fury by John Farris.

The first 75 pages SK flexes his story-telling muscles by fully developing a character that we become very invested in quickly. It is clear King wanted us to forget about him, and be surprised when he shows up again. Maybe it is because I am a writer and I was looking for the narrative connection, or maybe he wrote him so clearly I spent 300 pages wondering when we would see Tim again.

Our main character is Luke Ellis a gifted child who is already taking the SAT at 12 years old.It is interesting his intelligence is not what he is wanted for but it is the thing that makes him dangerous. The cast of young characters are well written kids which is not a surprise considering this book was written by the guy who wrote The Body) Stand by Me and IT.

The characters are all good and surprisingly King stuck the landing, ending his 500 plus page novels are often a problem. My biggest problem is the plot. The story with psychic kids doesn't really break any ground. This concept is pretty-ho-hum and only works because King characters are always good enough to keep the pages turning. No agent would touch this story from a unknown or starting author. There is very little there, there.

None the less I enjoyed it enjoy but nothing much stood out. SK constant readers will enjoy it but if you are looking for a King book I can think of two dozen titles that I would consider a priority over this one.