The Institute
Published in 2019, The Institute is a horror novel by Stephen King. The story is set in Minneapolis and Institute, in 2017–2019. Characters include Luke Ellis, Kalisha and Nick. Readers will find themes of missing children, psychic ability, child abuse and Kidnapping.
Open Library readers give it an average of 3.9 out of 5 from 16 ratings, and 388 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 28 editions across 4 languages. It appeared on the New York Times Combined Print And E-Book Fiction bestseller list in 2019.
It runs to roughly 624 pages — 11–12 hours of reading at an average pace.
About 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. As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King’s gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good vs. evil in a world where the good guys don’t always win.
Awards & lists
- ✦Locus Awards 2020 — Best Horror Novel (nominee)
- ✦British Fantasy Awards 2020 — August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel (nominee)
- 📰New York Times bestseller list — Combined Print And E-Book Fiction, 2019
Quick answers
Who wrote The Institute?
The Institute was written by Stephen King and first published in 2019.
What genre is The Institute?
It is usually shelved as Horror.
How long is The Institute?
The median edition has 624 pages, about 11–12 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.
What books are similar to The Institute?
Readers who like it often enjoy Deep Trouble II and The 5th Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories.
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Books like The Institute
Deep Trouble II
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The 5th Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories
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