More on Stephen King’s novel The Institute
A passage:
“When he was finished–it took almost a half hour, and Luke consumed a second Coke during the telling–there was a moment of silence. Then Tim said, very quietly, ‘It’s not possible. Just to begin with. That many abductions would raise red flags.’
Wendy shook her head at that. ‘You were a cop. You should know better. There was a study a few years back that said over a half million kids go missing each year in the United States. Pretty staggering figure, wouldn’t you say?’
‘I know the numbers are high, there were almost five hundred missing kids reported in Sarasota County the last year I was on the cops there…'”
A few thoughts:
Institutional corruption is real; King is right on this. Children as young as 12 or even younger can be abused by institutions. Adults can too. King appears to vacation on the Florida Gulf Coast. I was born and initially raised in Sarasota. It is a nice place in many ways, but the law allows you to be forcibly hospitalized and/or jailed for non-violent and legal behavior. That is wrong.