Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club discussion

Winner of the Horror award



The Institute by Stephen King

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.

Brief comment: this plot seemed implausible until one neared the finish line. By then, my own mind had wrapped itself around these incredible methods used for harnessing powers of our brains not understood by the average person. King had me ‘almost’ convinced this incredible practice of using gifted children and their mental prowess in preventing world disasters could’ve actually happened. Having drifted away from reading Steven King novels because he creeped me out, I wouldn’t have chosen this. But my book group wanted to read this. I am glad to have explored the topic creatively portrayed in this thriller from the pen of a gifted writer.

I'm not that far yet, but all I'm going to say is that I'm impressed that Stephen King has (so far) come up with a gifted child character that I actually like! So many people write them to be rude, unlikeable, and often one dimensional despite having such complex mind. So far, I've found this one multi-faceted and enjoyable.

I agree, Stephanie. I like that aspect. I also like that you really care for the MCs and want them to be ok.

I loved this book. I think there was one part near the end where King went a little overboard doing his King thing, but otherwise I thought it was excellent.

Really enjoyed this one. One of my favorite reads of the year! Loved the depiction of the characters.

I'm reading it now so I'll come back when I've finished it. Like it so far =)

I loved this book as well. I gave it 5 stars. I thought he did a great job depicting the children as extraordinary and normal at the same time.
I also really liked the ending.

I thought this was incredible. It was just such a compelling read. I loved the characters and the action just drove to a point.

Funnily enough, I've been listening to Doctor Sleep and it made me think of this book and how good King is at ratcheting up the tension.

Sooo late, I'm sorry but I've been late a lot with my reading this year. Finally I've read "The Institute" and what a magnificient read! He writes so convincingly that he several times makes me think that I'm reading an actual and plausible account of a true story. That is so brilliant! I am so impressed by King. I loved this book.

No worries, Nike! I've come back to threads months after the group reads because that's when my library hold comes in. I'll probably have that issue the first couple of months of 2021. So glad you enjoyed the book. I love his writing too!

I procrastinated hardcore when it came to this book, but I finally finished it! I'm not a huge fan of Stephen King, so I didn't think I would like it. But it wasn't bad at all, it seemed slow to me at some points but it really picked up at the end. I really liked Luke and Tim as characters.

Kristie wrote: "No worries, Nike! I've come back to threads months after the group reads because that's when my library hold comes in. I'll probably have that issue the first couple of months of 2021. So glad you ..."

Thank you for your support Kristie =), I always tend to feel a little bit ashamed when I'm late for the group readings. I'll try to stop doing that.