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The Institute by Stephen King

Horror

The Institute

by Stephen King

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Quick take

Read with the lights on! Master of horror Stephen King spins a disturbing tale of a mysterious institution.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, 400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Action_packed

    Action-packed

  • Illustrated icon, Scary

    Scary

  • Illustrated icon, Suburban

    Suburban drama

Synopsis

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 10-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.

Member ratings (18)

Horror
My Darling Girl
Incidents Around the House
The Sun Down Motel
The Hacienda
Home Before Dark
White Horse
Final Girls
The Shadows
Lock Every Door
The Last Time I Lied
Dearest
Horror
View all
My Darling Girl
Incidents Around the House
The Sun Down Motel
The Hacienda
Home Before Dark
White Horse
Final Girls
The Shadows
Lock Every Door
The Last Time I Lied
Dearest