The Institute

This story was kind of all over the place, but I liked it.

It started very calm, with the typical for King sort of slice-of-life introduction to a character, which I think I enjoyed the most.
Then we switch gears to another point of view and while that part was the proverbial meat on the bones, I found it slightly stale. Things were happening, but I was neither particularly intrigued, nor scared. I found myself mostly looking forward to the moment when the two perspectives would overlap.
And when they finally did, I did enjoy it. I think the way the author did it was appropriate and satisfying. And it pretty much saved the book for me.

The whole premise of this book is very good and it could've been really scary, but it was executed with so many conveniences, that all possibility for horror flew out the window. My biggest gripe being with the way the bad guys were portrayed. When you put a super smart protagonist, against a group of lazy and at times stupid villains, you simply can't maintain an atmosphere of fear.

I would qualify this book as a sci-fi thriller more than anything else, though given the slow pace in the first half of it, you might not feel too “thrilled” for a while there. But the second part and especially the ending definitely redeem it all.

I do want to point out something that upset me a bit though. And that is the inappropriate innuendo about children private parts in every other chapter, as well as the weirdly detailed thermometer scene (if you know you know). All of this was unnecessary and the plot wouldn't have suffered one bit if it was removed. So the author added it just because he wanted to and that really made me give him the side eye. I was ready to DNF the book then and there and while I'm happy I didn't, it has changed my opinion for the author as a person in a negative way.

I would recommend this book to those looking to explore (somewhat of) a sci-fi thriller with a paranormal aspect.