A Book A Week

The year 2019 has come and gone, and we are left with the promise of a new decade. The latter half of the year saw tremendous professional growth for me, but my blog suffered because of it. I just didn't have time to get my reviews written and posted. To both make up for the lost time and to start 2020 off in a productive light, I've decided to start the year off with a review that didn't get posted last year. I'll probably intersperse reviews of books I read last year amongst the books I'm reading now and mark them with the appropriate corresponding year at the bottom of each post. Here are my thoughts on Stephen King's latest book The Institute. 

It started on a whim. Tim was aboard his flight to New York when the airline began offering cash and free flights to bump someone from the flight. As the price grew, Tim became more and more eager to accept the offer. Finally, he did. He stumbled into a small town and took a job as a night knocker. And just like that, the story shifted to something completely different.

Young Luke is starting to face the fact that he isn't like his classmates. Not only is he the "smart kid", but he might actually be a genius. As his parents prepare to move him to the kind of school that will foster and challenge his unique intellect, Luke is excited about what the future holds. Everything changes when he is awakened in the night by several intruders. He is captured and taken to the Institute. His room there is a poor facsimile of his own room at home, the kind of place that gets all the details correct except for the ones that truly matter. Devoid of the love and support of his family, Luke turns to the other children in the place. They too have been stripped of their lives and are subjected to strange tests of both physical and mental ability.

At this point, I read a Stephen King novel based purely on him being the author. Over the years, he has earned the status of "must-read" based upon his ability to mix complex characters with engaging plots that challenge me as a reader. Much like Luke, I went into The Institute with no idea what I was getting into. King bookends Luke's story with that of Tim, a structural device that surprised me at first. I was so engrossed in Luke's journey that I had all but forgotten about Tim. Rest assured, both narrative threads come together in a way that is both satisfying and fresh. There's a layer of the supernatural to the story that is classic King. He grounds the fantasy to reality through a cast of characters that I instantly connected to. The past couple of years have been a kind of Stephen King renaissance with countless movie adaptations, TV series, and new books from the author. With The Insitute, King proves he has plenty more to offer his voracious readers.

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.

(2019, 36)