In a thrilling clash of genres, Stephen King reminds readers why he is the master of horror. However, a wordy and lacklustre resolution keeps this novel far from King’s list of greatest works.

Released this past September, The Institute follows a group of telepathic and telekinetic children kidnapped in a covert, government program as their powers are harnessed to take down political enemies. The novel manages to be part paranormal thriller,  psychological mystery, negotiation drama, and coming-of-age story, and only a writer as well-versed in the craft as King could combine these in a way that doesn’t feel disjointed or confusing. King’s masterful use of suspense, particularly where he jumps back and forth between opposing sides of conflict in the climactic scenes, kept me turning the pages of the novel well into the wee hours of the morning.

The biggest problem I found in this book was its pacing. Despite being on the short side for a King novel, at 557 pages, it dragged on quite a bit. From the drawn-out introduction, following the travel disruptions of a side character who isn’t mentioned again for several hundred pages, to the unnecessarily thorough breakdown of debt resettlement in Vermont, there are at least 100 pages of this book that feel like filler. The beginning and ending both felt like rubbing marbles together due to this fluff, which takes away from the suspenseful, climactic sections of the text. If King had trimmed down even 50 pages, the suspense that made the bulk of this book so enjoyable would be better represented throughout the novel’s entirety.

Despite the pacing, the ensemble of characters King creates, and the relationships between them, make this novel worth the read. The children band together and form the heart of the piece while trapped in the Institute. Their love for one another comes alive in every page, and anytime one of them was separated or harmed, the anguish of each character bleeds through the page. When Luke watches his new friends adapt to their new life in the Institute, he comments on how it seems that children can get used to anything – even living as hostages – and how horrible that realization is. That line stuck with me for days after reading. The camaraderie among these kids, and how deeply King paints their feelings for one another, is what carried the novel for me.

While this may not be one of his greatest works, The Institute serves as a reminder of exactly why King remains the master of horror: even a King text that breaks genre conventions and convolutes itself with unnecessary filler and pacing issues, is impossible to put down once the suspense kicks in. Fans of King’s previous works will feel right at home reading this novel (after trudging through the first hundred pages).