The Institute

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Santino Fontana

2020 THRILLER/SUSPENSE AUDIE AWARD WINNER!

Now an MGM+ Original Series!

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King, the most riveting and unforgettable story of kids confronting evil since It. “This is King at his best” (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’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.

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

Critic reviews

"Stephen King's newest audiobook is compulsively entertaining and features a dazzling performance by narrator Santino Fontana. After a seemingly unconnected prelude that is revisited much later, listeners meet 12-year-old telekinetic genius Luke Ellis. One night, Luke's parents are brutally murdered, and he's drugged, kidnapped, and brought to The Institute. There, he meets other supernaturally gifted children who have been taken. 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. While this isn't King at his most original, his and Fontana's talents are a winning combination."

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.

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.

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

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.