“Great Events Turn on Small Hinges” – Stephen King
Stephen King released a new book in 2019, so I scooped it up and suggested it for my book club. It has been awhile since I devoured King’s work like I did The Institute.
In this story, there are two main characters within a parallel timeline. Tim Jamieson is a former cop, and Luke Ellis is a boy genius. Luke shows signs of mild telekinesis and Tim finds himself in small town South Carolina while hitchhiking. After Luke is kidnapped and his parents are killed, the two will unknowingly cross paths.
King does a fantastic job keeping the reader’s undivided attention. You find yourself turning page after page just to get to the moment Luke and Tim finally meet. The book is hard to put down because you need vital questions answered. It keeps you guessing while it jumps back and forth from the two character’s lives.
The Institute takes on ideas of helplessness, fear, decision making, and makes you contemplate right and wrong. It really makes you think of who you would be in difficult situations. Hope is also a major theme in King’s latest novel. The reader scrounges on little crumbs of hope that King drops along the way while the children in the institute are clinging to their own ideals of freedom.
The players King created in this world are no less impressive than those of his past works. He has a way of putting to the page protagonists and antagonists that you feel you know in your own life. The pre-teens, the rough and tough southern crowd, and the evil characters running the institute are all undoubtedly palpable.
This latest novel isn’t exactly the scariest one King has ever written. Instead, he experiments with a different type of horror. The questionable tactics that the government in The Institute uses for “the greater good” make the reader wildly uncomfortable. It definitely makes you ponder the affairs of your own government.
I would definitely suggest The Institute to anyone who is familiar with Stephen King. Although, I think it would be a great introduction for anyone who hasn’t delved into his impressive body of work.
Final overall rating: 7/10.
Brittany Fernandez is a Lifestyle Writer for SoBros Network as well as one half of the Haunted Home Video team. She’s a Nashville native covering events on the local scene, B-movie horror reviews, and everything in between. Her go to karaoke song is “No Diggity.” Follow on Twitter: @brittbutspooky
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