THE INSTITUTE is a reminder of why Stephen King was such an influence on STRANGER THINGS.

This Constant Reader picked up a copy of Stephen King’s THE INSTITUTE last Christmas, and finally got around to reading it. As a very long time fan of King’s work, I’ll gladly read almost anything he puts out, but I’m more than willing to concede that much of his 21st Century output often falls short of his great early works. That might just be natural as The King does often recycle tropes and themes he explored thoroughly in previous books. I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing. THE INSTITUTE could easily be described as King Classic as he again tells a story with kids possessing the psychic powers, often telekinesis and telepathy (CARRIE and FIRESTARTER, and recently DOCTOR SLEEP), a mysterious and sinister quasi government organization that do not have the best interests of the protagonists at heart (The Shop), colorful small town characters (start with SALEM’S LOT), and a knockabout male character who turns out to be a rock when things hit the fan (Stu Redman from THE STAND). THE INSTITUTE centers on 12 year old Luke Ellis, a kid from Minnesota who happens to have a genius level IQ. Not only that, but Luke is showing signs of incipient telekinesis. One night, intruders break into Luke’s home, murder his parents, and abduct him away to an installation in the Maine woods where Luke’s powers are forcibly developed and used for mysterious purposes. If Luke, and the friends he makes among the other kidnapped children, cooperate, then they are given tokens for vending machines and not treated harshly. If they resist, they are punished as if they are Al Qaeda. It is abundantly apparent that the adults in charge are not interested in the welfare of these children, only what they can squeeze out of their brains before they are tossed away like used batteries. No one has ever escaped from this place, but Luke puts his IQ to work on the challenge and with the help of his newly made friends, comes up with a plan and puts it into action.

I found a lot to like in THE INSTITUTE, not the least in that it is well written. My paperback copy comes in at just over 650 pages, not a short read, but I found that the story moved along at a good pace. Right from the start, King violates one of the rules of novel writing 101 by not introducing his main protagonist first, but instead we get the story of Tim Jamison, a former Florida cop and how he gets the job of night knocker in the very small South Carolina town of DuPray before the story shifts to Luke and his impending kidnapping in Minnesota. We know these two plot threads will meet at some point, and the anticipation of how and why is planted. The suspense is built nicely as Luke encounters the occupants at the Institute, and enough of the truth is slowly revealed to raise the level of tension. By far the best part of the book is when Luke is on the run with no one to turn to for help, and desperate to put as much distance as he can between himself and his tormentors, who will soon discover his escape and come looking. This part of the book is King at his storytelling best. The author has always had a true talent for creating compelling and sympathetic young characters, and it is full display here, not just with Luke, but also Avery, Kalesha, Nick, and George, other luckless young occupants of the Institute. As with most horror and suspense novels, a lot rides on how well the antagonists are drawn, are they villains who inspire fear. The men and women who run the place that imprisons Luke and his friends are clearly drawn from the men and women who ran the Nazi concentration camps, the cogs in the death machine. They also have more than a slight resemblance to the torturers at Abu Ghraib. If Mrs. Sigsby and Trevor Stackhouse don’t at first appear to be on the same level as some the other monstrosities King has created, I would say look again. They are lovers of authority, happy to serve whatever the whims are of those above them, and more than happy to wield it ruthlessly over those below them. The kind of people who “get the job done no matter what.” They remind us that the worst monsters are not always supernatural. I do like how King makes a point to show that the Institute has more than a little internal sloppiness, which does occur over the long haul in many enterprises when expectations are allowed to sag, and things just roll along like they always have. The weakest part of the book is the resolution, a common complaint among King fans. I think the story came easy to King up through the final confrontation, but then comes a clunky and talky sequence meant to resolve the remaining lose ends that is not nearly as satisfying as what has come before.

A number of reviewers have compared THE INSTITUTE to Netlix’s STRANGER THINGS. They share many similarities, but it should be remembered that the Duffer brothers were inspired by King’s work from back in the ‘80s which had young characters who could move objects and start fires with their minds. Like I said, this is classic King pouring some old ingredients into a new bottle. And if THE INSTITUTE is adapted to a film, I think it would be a great opportunity for that other successful Steve from the ‘80s named Spielberg to finally collaborate with The King.

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