Suspense/Thriller

The Institute is Stephen King’s latest book, and I’d have to say one of the most psychologically terrifying that I’ve read in a while. The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Luke Ellis, who is a child prodigy and is going to be attending two different prestigious universities simultaneously in the upcoming semester. He’s also demonstrated some telekinetic ability, such as the ability to toss empty pizza pans to the floor and close cabinet doors with his mind.

But Luke’s ideal life is shattered one night when intruders enter his home while everyone was asleep, murder Luke’s parents, gas Luke and load him in the back of a van.

He awakens to find himself in a bedroom that resembles his own, yet it’s missing the window. He soon discovers that he’s in a sinister place called “The Institute” run by the evil Mrs. Sigsby and her harsh and ruthless crew of caretakers, cafeterias workers, doctors, and techs. In the Institute, there are other kids who have also been kidnapped from their homes — kids ranging in age from 7 to about 16. All of these kids are special in that they all have either telekinetic or telepathic talents, and they’re known as either TPs or TKs.

This is probably one of the most unsettling stories that I’ve read in a long time. What we have here is an evil institution hidden away in the middle of the Maine woods that performs horrible and bizarre experiments on kidnapped children, including mysterious injections that cause convulsions.

But what I found especially distressing about this story is the behavior of the ruthless caretakers. We’ve all grown up believing that adults will be nice to us if we’re nice to them. That is so not the case here. If a child behaves and does what they are told, they get tokens, which they can use in the vending machines for treats (including cigarettes and booze). But if they don’t go along with what’s asked of them or dare to smart off, the scumbag caretakers don’t hesitate to slap the children across the face, punch them in the stomach or zap them with their tasers.

The harshness and the violence the kids endured were shocking, and I felt sick to my stomach here and there while reading it. That’s the part I found especially distressing: the utter lack of scruples. There was also the absence of any sense of fairness, which is another thing young children tend to believe it.

We then take a harrowing journey along with the children as some of the Institute’s biggest secrets come to light.

Now what’s interesting about this book is that in the opening pages, we’re introduced to an ex-police officer named Tim Jaimeson, who left his job and hitchhiked to the small town of Dupray, South Carolina where he took on a job as a “Night Knocker.” There he meets all sorts of interesting people, especially the endearing and utterly eccentric Orphan Annie, who seemed to be a bit of a conspiracy theorist.

I found his story quite compelling, and I had a difficult time figuring out how his adventure fits into that of the Institute, which was supposedly the theme of the novel. But then, the story completely switches gears and for the rest of the book, were immersed into the day-to-day lives of the children. But we do meet Mr. Jameson again as he becomes an integral part of the storyline later on in the book when the novel comes full circle.

This is quite a long book….I actually listened to this on audio, and it was over 19 hours. But what a page-turner! At no point was I bored but instead was enthralled and often horrified by the brutal plot-line of the story.

The plot drew-me right in from the get-go, and I became obsessed with this story. I mean, what goes on in that Institute is sheer insanity, something that I couldn’t even begin to imagine on my own. And I thought that the character development was phenomenal. Stephen King truly knows how to write children. We really get to know the kids: Luke, Avery, Kalisha, Nick, George, and the others — and yes, we even get into the head of the evil characters, a place that wasn’t very comfortable to be in.

The friendships that grew between the kids were especially heartwarming, and I loved how strong and distinct each kid’s voice was. I was especially enamored with Luke, who turned to be not only intelligent but also brave and devoted with an extra big heart — and even though his situation looked absolutely hopeless, he soldiered on with an admirable resolve.

Now I will say that this probably isn’t the book for more sensitive readers as the book deals with topics such as child abuse (both physical and emotional), suicide, murder, grief, PTSD, drowning, loss of loved ones and more. That being said, the book was definitely difficult to read in places. Your heart will break into a million pieces, and you’ll experience feelings of horror and revulsion.

But for me, the story was worth sticking with it, and I ended up loving this masterfully told tale. I loved that, despite the horrors that the kids were put through, they all supported each other and rallied together when necessary.

This definitely has made my list of favorite Stephen King novels. It was captivating, thrilling, and unsettling, and I felt that the heartbreaking scenes were nicely balanced by the blood-pumping action scenes and complex moral dilemmas.

I loved the original premise of this intense, sometimes brutal, no-holds-barred thriller and felt that the ending did not disappoint. It ended up being a heart-pounding story of courage and sacrifice.

The story was brilliantly paced, well-constructed, and flawlessly executed and left me on the edge of my seat for most of it. It was indeed a spine-chilling, tension-packed gripper.

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I tend to love stories where people are trapped together, cut off from the rest of the world with a villain in their midst so when this novel about stranded travelers came to my attention, I had to read it.

No Exit is a super-creepy, edgy, heart-in-your-throat thrill ride that follows our main character Darby Thorne who while on her way to Utah to see her dying mother, gets caught in a savage blizzard in the Colorado mountains. No longer able to navigate the roads, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a rest area with four strangers.

Concerned that her family may wonder where she is, she steps outside, hoping to find a cell signal in order to call them but there’s no reception. As she passes by one of the vehicles in the parking lot, she looks in the window and to her horror, sees a little girl locked in a dog crate.

Even though Darby realizes one of the four people inside is the kidnapper, she has no choice but to act and is determined to somehow save the girl — and she has to do so without tipping off the kidnapper and getting everyone else killed in the process. But first, she’ll need to figure out who the kidnapper is — and who can be trusted enough to ask for help in freeing the girl.

The question is: who is the villain? And who can and cannot be trusted?

As it turns out, there’s a hell of a lot more to her fellow passengers then meets the eye and Darby soon finds out that navigating those uncertain waters are a lot more dangerous than she could have imagined. She quickly learns that nothing is as it seems and everyone in the room has secrets, which are two of my favorite tropes. Also: Trust. No. One.

This story takes off with a bang and doesn’t let up until the final jaw-dropping pages. To say it’s fast-paced is an understatement as our protagonist finds herself in one harrowing and deadly situation after another. I really loved the speed and pacing of the story, as it hurtles along at breakneck speed, never giving you the opportunity even to catch your breath. I found myself so engrossed in the plot that I couldn’t put it down, and I ended up reading hours past my bedtime because I had to know what happened.

It’s also chock full of surprising and shocking twists and turns, most of which I didn’t see coming (the first one was a doozy!). There was definitely some brilliant storytelling here as author continuously ratcheted up the tension page after page and we couldn’t help but wonder whether Darby is going to be the hero of the story or the victim; this is to say, will she outsmart the dirtbag or will they outsmart her?

What surprised me was how violent, bloody, and gory the novel was, something that caught me totally off guard. Let’s just say that I’ll never look at a nail gun again without shuddering and thinking about this story. That being said, this may not be a novel for those who dislike violence and/or are particularly squeamish, as some might find it exceptionally gruesome. There are lots of potentially triggering situations in this book, so be warned if you’re a more sensitive reader.

It’s a dark, edgy, intense and claustrophobic game of cat and mouse in an absolutely chilling setting. I’ve always found rest stops a tad creepy, and this book certainly reinforced that feeling.

In addition, No Exit was unsettling, scary, nerve-racking, anxiety-inducing, suspenseful and clever, and though parts of it were graphic and horrifying, I found the story mesmerizing and compelling. It’s a disturbing, desperate novel which I found to be quite different from most thrillers, and I found the inventive storyline refreshing. And the psychotic villain was utterly evil and bone-chilling.

I also really liked Darby’s character. She’s delightfully complex, often impulsive but mostly incredibly brave, tenacious and noble, who had to make impossible decisions and put her life on the line to save a little girl — even when the odds were not in her favor.

I enjoyed seeing her character evolve throughout the story as she went from being a self-centered person to someone who would risk their life for a stranger.

All in all, No Exit is a highly suspenseful nail-biting psychological thriller that leaves you with one simple question: what would you do?”

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I’ve read other Ruth Ware books which I’ve enjoyed and was excited when I heard that she was coming out with a reimagining of Henry James’ novel “Turn of the Screw.” Well, I wasn’t really excited about the Turn of the Screw thing as I read it years ago when I was young and found it totally boring. I probably should give it a reread because I was pretty young when I read it.

Regardless, I ended up absolutely loving The Turn of the Key, a gothic-style thriller about a nannying position that has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

The story is told in epistolary format and follows a young potentially murderous nanny named Rowan Caine who is writing to an attorney named Mr. Wrexham from prison, in the hopes that he’ll represent her.

She is charged with murdering one of the children in her care. Through the letters, Rowan recounts her story about what really happened and all the events leading up to it. She ends her first letter by stating that she is innocent, meaning the true murderer is still on the loose.

As we learn, she spotted an ad for a live-in-nanny offering an unbelievably generous salary. When she arrives at Heatherbrae house for an interview, she finds a large, secluded gothic-style home situated in the remote Scottish countryside.

But she learns that though gothic on the outside, the house is, in fact, a “smart home” with everything from the lights to the locks to the appliance controlled via an app. I thought the blend of a Victorian-style house fully equipped with modern smart devices lent an extra bit of intrigue to the story, especially once we get the gothic horror element combined with the modern gadgets. It’s as if the house had a split personality.

So also learns that several recent nannies have left — four in the past year — because of their belief that the house is haunted, and as we learn, the house has quite a dark history. This is, of course, our first clue that something’s amiss with this too-good-to-be-true nanny position and of course, Rowan wonders what could have driven off so many nannies, especially those who left abruptly in the middle of the night. But the salary is too generous to pass up, and she’s determined to get the job. A job offer soon follows, and Rowan finds herself the nanny of four children ranging from 18 months to 14 years old.

When she arrives at the house, she’s more than surprised to discover that she’s to be immediately left alone with the children for a couple of weeks while the parents are out of town, meaning that she doesn’t even have a chance to become acclimated to her new environment. But she’s confident that she can handle it. That is until strange things begin to happen — things that very well could be supernatural in nature, such as malfunctioning smart devices, cold spots, creaking floors, missing belongings, and disappearing keys.

Oh – and there’s also a garden chock full of poisonous flowers and plants next to the house.

We also learn that Rowan isn’t completely innocent here and she arrives at the house with her own set of secrets. It’s hinted at early on that she may not be quite the person she presents herself to be and that her resume may have been embellished a bit, suggesting that she may have been unsuitable for the position. Of course, all her secrets come out at the end.

There was quite a desperate and claustrophobic feeling to this story as Rowan struggled to understand the smart home’s various controls, panels, switches, and apps, completely cut off from the rest of the world. I also found the idea of being under constant surveillance in every room of the house to be a tad unsettling as well as being in charge of mistrusting and openly hostile children.

There were so many delightful plot twists and red herrings in the story, most of which I didn’t see coming and I did not see the ending coming at all (speaking of the ending, make sure you read the Epilogue!). The story itself is fast-paced and picked up even more during the second half, especially once Rowan’s terror escalates.

It’s an unnerving and unsettling story, and it set my heart racing several times as I white-knuckled my way through the harrowing events. It was atmospheric and super-creepy, though it probably didn’t help that I read during the middle of the night while alone in a strange hotel room in a strange town.

But all in all, I found The Turn of the Key to be rich, complicated, creative, and clever — a spine-tingling, tension-packed gripper of a tale. I thought that Ware did a masterful job of layering on the twisty intrigue and mysteries until the reader is almost frantically turning the pages, impatient to find out what the hell is going on.

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In this review, I discuss Karen Hamilton’s The Perfect Girlfriend, a chilling psychological thriller about obsession taken to the extreme.