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The Institute
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Santino Fontana
- Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins
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Publisher's summary
A 2020 Thriller/Suspense Audie Award winner!
A New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2019 selection
From number one New York Times best-selling author Stephen King, the most riveting and unforgettable story of kids confronting evil since It.
“This is King at his best” (The 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' 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 10-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 “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.... 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.... [King's] and Fontana's talents are a winning combination." (AudioFile magazine)
Featured Article: The Shining—Book vs. Movie
Set in the claustrophobia-inducing snow-covered peaks of an isolated hotel in the middle of the Rockies, The Shining is a classic work of psychological horror that’s just about as chilling as it gets. But it’s so, so much more than your classic story of spirits and a man’s descent into madness—it’s also a tender yet deeply painful meditation on addiction, family, abuse, and redemption. Stanley Kubrick rejected Stephen King's initial treatment of the screenplay, and the author was largely dissatisfied with his novel’s jump to the big screen. So what exactly are the differences between The Shining movie and the novel?
Editor's Pick
The King is back!
"Stephen King’s new thriller, The Institute, takes its place at the head of the table—comfortably seated alongside his other great works. As a huge Stephen King fan, I have been impatiently awaiting this listen for quite some time. To make it an even bigger deal, it’s performed by the great and all-powerful narrator, Santino Fontana. Talk about a wonder team! The story starts off with Luke Ellis, whose life is turned upside down literally overnight. After his parents are murdered and he’s kidnapped by mysterious people in an unmarked car, Luke is dropped into The Institute, where some kids disappear behind doors for being bad (Back Half) while other kids are awarded tokens for being good (Front Half). Will Luke be able to escape, or will he soon fall victim to what’s behind the Back Half of The Institute?"
—Nicole R., Audible Editor
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Needful Things
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King
- Length: 25 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Leland Gaunt opens a new shop in Castle Rock called Needful Things. Anyone who enters his store finds the object of his or her lifelong dreams and desires: a prized baseball card, a healing amulet. In addition to a token payment, Gaunt requests that each person perform a little "deed", usually a seemingly innocent prank played on someone else from town. These practical jokes cascade out of control, and soon the entire town is doing battle with itself. Only Sheriff Alan Pangborn suspects that Gaunt is behind the population's increasingly violent behavior.
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Please! No Distracting Keyboard Music
- By Andrea on 04-23-16
By: Stephen King
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Dreamcatcher
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 22 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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A dark and sweeping adventure, Dreamcatcher is set in the haunted city of Derry - the site of Stephen King's It and Insomnia. In it, four young boys stand together and do a brave, good thing, an act that changes them in ways that they hardly understand. A quarter-century later, as grown men who have gone their separate ways, these friends come together once a year to hunt in the woods of Maine.
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King Fans Will Love Dreamcatcher
- By Murray Zetterholm on 03-06-03
By: Stephen King
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Elevation
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Although Scott Carey doesn’t look any different, he’s been steadily losing weight. There are a couple of other odd things, too. He weighs the same in his clothes and out of them, no matter how heavy they are. Scott doesn’t want to be poked and prodded. He mostly just wants someone else to know, and he trusts Doctor Bob Ellis. In the small town of Castle Rock, the setting of many of King’s most iconic stories, Scott is engaged in a low-grade - but escalating - battle with the lesbians next door whose dog regularly drops his business on Scott’s lawn. One of the women is friendly; the other, cold as ice.
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Meh...
- By Wendy on 12-11-18
By: Stephen King
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Duma Key
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: John Slattery
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
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A terrible accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. When his marriage suddenly ends, Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived his injuries. He wants out. His psychologist suggests a new life distant from the Twin Cities, along with something else.
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Play the Book and Let the Book Play You
- By OldDog on 11-09-09
By: Stephen King
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Under the Dome
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Raul Esparza
- Length: 34 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when - or if - it will go away.
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Glad I Listened to 11-22-63 First
- By Russell on 02-09-12
By: Stephen King
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The Shining
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Jack Torrance's new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he'll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote...and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.
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Don't expect the movie...
- By KJ on 09-17-12
By: Stephen King
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Later
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Seth Numrich
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine—as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.
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Another amazing story
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 03-02-21
By: Stephen King
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Desperation
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King
- Length: 21 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Located off a desolate stretch of Interstate 50, Desperation, Nevada, has few connections with the rest of the world. It is a place, though, where the seams between worlds are thin. And it is a place where several travelers are abducted by Collie Entragian, the maniacal police officer of Desperation. Entragian uses various ploys for the abductions, from an arrest for drug possession to "rescuing" a family from a nonexistent gunman.
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Once again unabridged
- By Jo Green on 02-20-16
By: Stephen King
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The Stand
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 47 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.
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My First Completed Stephen King Novel
- By Meaghan Bynum on 02-20-12
By: Stephen King
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Insomnia
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Eli Wallach
- Length: 25 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Since his wife died, Ralph Roberts has been having trouble sleeping. Each night he wakes up a bit earlier until he's barely sleeping at all. During his late-night walks, he observes some strange things going on in Derry, Maine. He sees colored ribbons streaming from people's heads, two strange little men wandering around town after dark, and more. He begins to suspect that these visions are something more than hallucinations brought on by lack of sleep.
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Great story, horrible production!
- By LoriA on 01-24-16
By: Stephen King
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Skeleton Crew
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King, Matthew Broderick, Michael C. Hall, and others
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The master at his scarifying best! From heart-pounding terror to the eeriest of whimsy - tales from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time! Trucks that punish and beautiful teen demons who seduce a young man to massacre; curses whose malevolence grows through the years; obscene presences and angels of grace - here, indeed, is a night-blooming bouquet of chills and thrills.
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Excellent narrators for classic King collection
- By Sheryl McCallister on 04-07-20
By: Stephen King
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11-22-63
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
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I Owe Stephen King An Apology
- By Kelly - Write Well Academy on 04-16-12
By: Stephen King
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The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
- Stories
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Stephen King, Dylan Baker, Brooke Bloom, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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A master storyteller at his best - the O. Henry Prize winner Stephen King delivers a generous collection of stories, several of them brand-new, featuring revelatory autobiographical comments on when, why, and how he came to write (or rewrite) each story. Magnificent, eerie, utterly compelling, these stories comprise one of King's finest gifts to his constant fan. "I made them especially for you," says King. "Feel free to examine them, but please be careful. The best of them have teeth."
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HE'S A CUP OF COFFEE
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 12-10-15
By: Stephen King
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Revival
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: David Morse
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs - including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession.
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Sinister and Classic King
- By David Shear on 11-12-14
By: Stephen King
What listeners say about The Institute
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Becky
- 09-29-19
Best King book in decades!
After a series of clunkers with lack-luster or confusing endings...Under the Dome, Revival, Dr. Sleep, ect...Stephen King has done a great job with The Institute. The concept of a secret research lab conducting experiments on gifted children was intriguing from the start and characters were well developed. To my great relief the children were not presented in an overly cutesy manner which kills a good story, but given depth and intelligence. The ending is well handled, no loose threads dangling or abject disappointment.
The narrator adeptly handled the task of creating distinct voices for many characters, both adults and children. His reading enhanced the story.
On another note, many people are upset by the "political jabs" in the book. What are they talking about?? I can only recall one time where a political reference was made, and it was a joke. I guess some people are overly sensitive and saw a jab where there was none. The Institute is not in any way, shape, or form a politically based story
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18 people found this helpful
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- Running Rampant
- 09-13-19
Bizarre, but well-thought-out premise
I found the characters well-developed, as they always are in King's books. The premise was interesting. A few things bothered me. I get it that these children are already world-weary at a young age, and some are geniuses in addition to possessing their abilities. Still, the way they spoke was often far more adult than child. I just didn't buy it sometimes.
The reader did a good job overall. The various voices were done well and he differentiated between characters with accent and cadence. However, that was also a sticking point. Often, he lapsed into characters' accents at inappropriate times. This was most obvious with Annie. It took me out of the story to hear third person narrations spoken in the accents of characters. These weren't instances where we were privy to a character's inner dialogue or viewpoint, but third-person descriptions of what the character was doing in the moment. Those times kicked me right out of the story.
King continues to bring out fresh worlds and I enjoyed it.
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- Mira
- 10-02-19
GREAT story, but annoying politics.
Fantastic story. Great author. But the Trump hate breaks the spell a bit too often for me. Everyone is certainly entitled to their political opinions. I didn't vote for the man, either. But when I wait with measured breath for a new King novel, only to be smacked numerous times with Trump digs and insults ( more shade gets thrown at the current President of the US than the referenced Nazis of Germany's experimentation ventures.... yes, really), it disappoints me. I've been one of King's "constant readers" since I picked up a tattered copy of Needful Things in a resale shop in 1995, and consumed it over a rainy weekend. I was a strange, smart kid who found respite from a troubled home in the fantasy of King and his way of seeing the world - and grew into an adult who has few happy childhood memories that don't revolve around King's stories. But to see this more and more in his novels - this being the worst yet - it removes the magic and wonder he once could cast for me.
TL;DR: Worth the read, if you can ignore the occasional political inflammation that surfaces from time to time. I'm trying.... but it's getting more difficult to overlook.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Carol
- 09-15-19
Fantastic
One of his best
Loved it
Beginning to end
Would highly recommend to all
Thanks again to the KING
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5 people found this helpful
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- donna
- 03-08-21
Gripping ‼️
From the first words ( as all of Kings books) I couldn’t put it down. I’m hoping there will be another ☺️
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- Cp
- 10-16-20
Amazing
This book was absolutely amazing. Not scary, no horror here. Awesome kids that you will fall in love with, a super interesting story- super addictive book. I could not stop listening! If you like Stranger Things, you’ll love this.
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- Chase B.
- 09-13-19
A meditation on human decency, and our need of it.
I've become a soft King fan this year, having listened to and thoroughly enjoyed It, The Shining, Full Dark, and a few others. I was excited to get access to a fresh, new King book. This is my first time waiting for a release.
A note about Fontana's narration: when a chapter or section is mainly about a character, he often voices the entire section in the voice of that character. It's a nice touch that helps connect you more to the flow of the story. I'd like to see this technique picked up by other VO workers. No complaints, great work by Fontana.
The book is firmly placed in the modern age, reflects on the philosophical questions of what is ethical, and I think he lands on the Kantian assertion that it is never OK to use humans as means to an end.
King is kind to his characters, fully devolping a cast full of lovable (and detestable) complete human beings, many of whom would no doubt disagree with his own political leanings, and paints a vivid picture about what it means to fall asleep at the wheel.
This book, like so many of King's works I've had the good fortune to experience, is many things, but to me it seems to be mostly a meditation on human decency, and the little rays of love we get to shine into each other's lives. Things like helping someone understand when they're being taken advantage of, and what to do about that. Things that make all the difference.
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- Reeka
- 04-13-20
As usual, King does not disappoint
An excellent tale of kids with special abilities at the intersection of conspiracy, New World order, and supernatural talents.
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- Kelly M
- 10-01-19
Beware of the men in the black cars.
REVIEW PROVIDED BY: Kelly
NUMBER OF HEARTS: 4
Well now.....
The Institute is a classic Stephen King with all the “What the heck?’, ‘OMG could that really happen ?’, and the ‘I will never be able to trust that gut feeling without questioning everything’. The Institute was not scary like It or Pet Cemetery, but it was highly disturbing and will make you wonder.
There are a lot of moving parts in this story and listening on audio was a little confusing at the very beginning. Trying to figure out who and why we were following certain characters. But Mr. King does a great job of putting everything in order and give us as many answers as possible.
This is my first audiobook narrated by Santino Fontana. Mr. Fontana does a really good job bring the characters alive. My only struggle (and I think I struggle with a lot of male narrators) is the female voices. There were a few of them that I just wasn’t wild about. But other then that it was a wonderfully long audiobook.
Fans of Stephen King will enjoy this latest installment to his amazing library of classics.
Disclaimer:
I purchased this audiobook from Audible.com and this review is my own opinion and not a paid review.
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- Wendy L.
- 09-16-19
I love Stephen King
The characters are lovable and hate able. The storyline and events make you think. Hard to find something about this book or other Stephen King books I don’t like.
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