The Institute

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Santino Fontana

Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

A 2020 Thriller/Suspense Audie Award winner!

A New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2019 selection

From number one New York Times best-selling author Stephen King, the most riveting and unforgettable story of kids confronting evil since It.

“This is King at his best” (The St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis' 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.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is “is another winner: creepy and touching and horrifyingly believable, all at once” (The Boston Globe).

©2019 Stephen King (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"Stephen King's newest audiobook is compulsively entertaining and features a dazzling performance by narrator Santino Fontana.... Fontana does wonders with this diverse lineup of young characters who band together to fight their captors. Each of them sounds authentic and unique. Meanwhile, the adult characters, with a few exceptions, are a nightmarish bunch. Through them, Fontana shows that evil can have many different voices.... [King's] and Fontana's talents are a winning combination." (AudioFile magazine)

I love LOVE Mr. King's work... but

I think that Mr. King is an amazing author, one of the best of the 21st and 22nd century. I have read almost every one of his books... and I am working on the rest. I know how his works and writing styles have changed with different life events that he has lived through, and I think you can see how his writing styles have changed over the years. But here it is... since 2016 he has started really pushing a WOKE view into the background of his stories.... and this one is the most political that I have read. like I have stated, I love Mr. King's works, but his subtle little political jabs just take away from his stories. completely my opinion... I will continue to read his books, but it just makes his new books not as enjoyable as his past works. This is his art, his talent that he shares with us. Buyer, be aware that this book will have a political undertone that you may not enjoy.

Loved it!!!! Great Narrator and Story!

NO SPOILERS! This book was so enjoyable!!! I listened to the whole thing in two days and the book is over 18 hours, it was that good! I will say that the first hour of the book was rocky but I implore you all to listen on. Once the story is about the children it really blossoms into something quite entertaining.

Also, this book is read by Santino Fontana, who narrated, YOU. He was so good as the narrator that they made "The voices of Joe" just to talk about his great his performance. That alone makes the book worth it.

If you liked the MR Mercedes series of Stephen King or YOU by Caroline Kepnes, you should enjoy this book. There are lots of suspenseful moments and the characters are memorable. I really hope he makes this into a book series.

Leave your politics for non-fiction

As usual, a great novel from Stephen King. However, he took a couple of opportunities to interject his personal politics in the tale, which were a detraction, from an otherwise good story.

Another great story from the King

I have all of his books except for the couple that's unavailable. Not a real gripping page turner like his older novels but it's really good, 5 star. Narrator gets 4 stars, good but could have been better. Well worth the credit

Very good book

This is not a regular Stian King book 📙 the story is interesting the creator made a very good point about this day's and how normal people can be heroes

JUST SO SO FOR STEPHEN KING

I ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD FOR NEW STEPHEN KING,BUT THIS LET ME DOWN. I DIDN'T LIKE THIS STORY. I ALSO THINK A BETTER NARRATOR COULD HAVE BEEN FOUND . I WONDER WHAT FRANK MUELLER COULD HAVE DONE WITH THIS STORY.

Really good

It’s an inventive Novel. Masterfully written. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I recommend it highly. It’s not creepy like some of his other novels are. Suspenseful and dramatic.

Everything serves the Beam

I think this book can tie into The Dark Tower series and a novella called Ur. The reason I'm thinking this is because they are kidnapping kids that are telepathic and have telekinesis. The reason is they are using these kids to kill certain people to prevent to world from ending, nuclear war, zombies, vampires, or whatever else would do the trick. I found these kids similar to the Breakers from the Dark Tower, which are verbatim "The Breakers are a group of telepaths gathered together by Trans Corporation, the agents of the Crimson King". The difference is that The Institute was trying to save to world and the Crimson King was trying to destroy it. Tim was making a lot of decisions that led him to meeting Luke and dismantling the Institute and he was conflicted if he helped end the world or aided in saving it. Wesley Smith in Ur went through the same... Self questioning when he saved a school bus full of kids and was visited by the Low Men in Yellow Coats, or Agents of the Dark Tower. Every decision serves the Beam.

leave your politics out Steven

The story is great and I was hooked pretty early. However, Mr. King takes a few jabs at President Trump with added details that aren't needed. I guess I should've known.

Fantastic Narration

Stephen King's Books tend to be a little long, this one is no exception, but the narrator made this book work of art! if I could give him 10 stars I would. The story is a good one, and because of the way Santino Fontana delivered it, it made it so much better!! Easy voice to listen to. Read expertly. Good book!! one of his best I'm my opinion. The narration superb.