The Institute, by Stephen King

In The Institute, child prodigy Luke Ellis — who also happens to be able to move objects with his mind — is kidnapped in the middle of the night and imprisoned, along with other similarly exceptional children, in a mysterious facility in rural Maine. Meanwhile, former police officer Tim Jamieson is drifting through the southeast, trying to figure out what to do with his life. Through happenstance and luck, their paths cross and Luke’s fate, as well as perhaps the fate of the world, hang in the balance.

This is the kind of Stephen King book that I fell in love with as a kid — it has an intriguing premise and many memorable characters, and unlike some of his other books, the gore factor is pretty low. The children play the starring roles in this novel and they are very believable. The Tim Jamieson character reminded me of Jack Reacher in some of the best of Lee Child’s Reacher novels.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. My only complaint is that it was too long. I love a long book (indeed, after reading the original published version of The Stand, I happily read the unabridged version when it was released, and loved all 1153 pages of it), but The Institute, at almost 500 pages long, dragged at points. I was tempted to skim. I think the whole book could’ve been tightened up by about 100 pages. Still, the length and level of detail is how King draws you in and makes you feel like you really know the characters (and who am I to suggest edits to Stephen King?).

Highly recommend, especially for fans of Stephen King’s other kid-centered novels (It, The Talisman, etc.).