One of the perks of being the biggest reader in my small town is first dibs on the new books at the library. I’m not an avid Stephen King reader, in fact, this was only my third book by the King, but the synopsis sounded so intriguing, I couldn’t pass it up.

BLURB:

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 ten-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.

There’s no question Stephen King is a master at what he does. His writing is smart and concise, with the perfect mix of humor and seriousness. I find him utterly charming, which may not be the most common word used to describe the man. We’ll see if my opinion still holds true after I read The Shining next month.

While this book started slowly and had a slightly anticlimactic ending, the meat of this story was addictive. I couldn’t put it down and was anxious about which horrible thing might happen next to the poor kids emprisoned in the Institute. It felt like a slightly more invigorating version of Stranger Things. I was on the edge of my seat, wishing I could help these kids escape while knowing they would soon be bringing Hell down on the evil adults using them as guinea pigs. The story brought out all of the emotions: excitement, sadness, rage, fury, and triumph.

After watching a few interviews with King regarding his latest release, I was eager to see how a seventy-two-year-old man would capture the voices of children in this novel. Somehow, he was able to put his readers in the minds of kids of all ages and genders without a hitch. I felt as if each character could have been a legitimate person, which is impressive based on the sheer number of characters this book has. There was the no-nonsense view of the world only children can possess in each of the characters, mixed with the fear and uncertainty that comes from the lack of worldly experience we all had as children.

One of my favorite aspects of this story were the random, small moments of kindness certain characters might display toward someone in need. These were such miniscule parts of the story, but they were uplifting and gave the story an overall positive tone.

I wish there had been a few more details pertaining to the telekinetic and telepathic powers the kids possessed along with more information regarding the Institute at the end of the story. It seemed like certain things were glazed over but overall this was an interesting read. It was a hefty book that, at times, didn’t feel long enough. I can’t wait to read some of King’s former novels in the future… if I can stomach the horror. 🙂

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase on Amazon.

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