Stephen King is by far my favorite author of novels and short stories. His books are often very long, they are built in a very conscientious way and the world is coherent. The Institute is no different.
However, it’s not a typical King-horror story, it’s rather a thriller with supernatural elements, familiar from Firestarter or Dead Zone.
The action is set mainly somewhere in Maine, and for me, it always emphasizes the atmosphere of separation and isolation. As always - King sketches the portraits of the main characters well, and they are always expressive characters that you can either like or hate as you read. In this book, the main characters are mainly teenagers which can be a bit of a challenge when it comes to the creation of their behavior. We discover the truth about the title Institute gradually and it’s accompanied by a lot of excitement. The history and mystery of this place are very non-obvious.
It was certainly one of the best books I have read this year.