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Sep 07, 2020carolwu96 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Most children who disappear leave of their own accord. So when twelve-year-old prodigy Luke Ellis goes missing, he is assumed to have murdered his parents and run away. In truth, he has been kidnapped to a research institute where scientists conduct experiments on children with special abilities. ⁣ ⁣ Having been a fan of IT (the movies), I decided to try my first Stephen King novel! The Institute is his most recent work and the premise is somewhat reminiscent of X-Men, so I was eager to plunge into this universe. ⁣ ⁣ King was also able to create a hidden sliver of the world in less than 600 pages. We learned about the rationale of those who supported the research as well as about the larger system of which the institute constituted one part. We also witnessed the friendship, the empathy, and the purity that most of these children managed to retain for one another throughout the horrific process, as well as some moments of sparkling humanity amidst the contamination of delusion and arrogance. ⁣ ⁣ However, book also has its problems. It is long and emotionally exhausting to read, if only because there is so much abusiveness and darkness in way the institute staff have treat these children. I also wish it delved deeper into the identities of the institute’s masterminds, but maybe this lack of information is realistic, even logical, in that although it is sometimes possible to overturn the tip of the tainted iceberg, most of the time we know very little about the involvement of the powerful. ⁣ ⁣ This aspect of book is actually similar to that in an issue I am currently reading about in @Bethmacy ‘s Dopesick, which retraces the development of the widespread addiction that is now known as the Opioid Epidemic. Although Purdue Pharma had done so much damage to the American society, its controlling family had managed to evade public scrutiny until very recently, and this is only one of the countless examples how such crimes can occur undetected. Thus while I do wish King had been more revealing of the organization behind the Institute, we have to admit that it is unfortunately, and maybe even stingingly, realistic. For more reviews, visit me on Instagram @ RandomStuffIRead !