The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.
by Blaise Runyon,
News Editor
The past 11 months have been tedious, and all of us have had our fill of catastrophic events. However, I must admit that it’s almost refreshing to escape into a book and read about situations even worse than our own now. Late 2019, Stephen King released The Institute: a chilling novel that scares you beyond the staple tactics seen in any horror movie. I was unable to get my hands on this book until December of 2020, but here’s why it was worth the wait.
The story follows Luke Ellis, a 12 year old boy who is taken to The Institute to be used for his very limited telekinetic powers. It follows the months he spends there as he begins to learn more about their residence. The book almost feels real as you read; I became involved in the interpersonal relationships of these characters before I knew it. The dynamics between them are unbelievably realistic, and King represents the minds of children effortlessly.
My favorite thing about reading horror novels is that unlike movies, writers can’t just use jump scares to make you feel the fear. Horror writers have to come up with truly creepy concepts that develop into vivid images in your mind. There’s no fake blood or climactic music to help it along, which makes the writer really squeeze into your mind to disturb you. Maybe that sounds a bit dark, but the thrill of this story occupied the front of my mind for the weeks I spent taking my time reading it.
Finding a book that’s both a good plot and well written is difficult for me. It seems that so many books I start to read immediately put me off, whether it’s the writing style or the poorly written commentary or the plot. Stephen King has always been some sort of a comfort writer to me. His novels and short stories never cease to enthrall me, even when I find myself busy and overwhelmed with other things (like a pandemic). So, if you’re having a tough time getting through all the historic events that are happening throughout our high school years, I greatly encourage you to take some time to disappear into a thrilling and engaging book like The Institute.
You can find this book both in Bradley’s library and the Columbus library (available also as an audio book).