Readers meet Tim Jamieson in the opening pages of Stephen King’s latest novel, “The Institute.”

We learn Tim is a former cop, a cop caught in a bad situation, who gets off a plane to drive from Miami to New York City … slowly. He takes odd jobs along the way, including walking a beat as an auxiliary employee of a small-town South Carolina sheriff’s office.

There, he stays, meeting folks, checking on businesses at night, etc. Readers spend the opening portion of the book with Tim. Not much happens. It’s Stephen King so it’s not boring but it’s not Stephen King mesmerizing either.

Then about 40 pages into the book, we discover the story isn’t about Tim. In fact, Tim won’t be seen for another 300 pages.

“The Institute” is about Luke Ellis, a 12-year-old genius who has some periphery telekinesis. He is kidnapped and taken to a special facility. His abductors could care less about his high IQ. No, they’re interested in his telekinetic capabilities.

Telekinesis and telepathy have led the Institute faculty to kidnap children from across the United States. These children live in a dorm-like facility where they are poked, prodded and treated like lab animals. After a short interval, they are transferred to another building at the Institute — a mysterious place that is the subject of only rumors among the newcomers.

The faculty claims the children are part of a great service and will be returned to their families — minds swiped clean of any memories of the Institute — within a few months. Though the children and teens suspect the truth, their parents have been killed when the youngsters were abducted. No one is leaving the Institute alive … though that could change.

King weaves a fast-paced tale that belies the book’s 500-plus pages. Interactions between the children are as realistic as the relationships he created decades ago in “It.” The characters in “It” have far more depth though the ending of “The Institute” is far more satisfying — and more concise — than “It.”

“The Institute” is a solid page-turner from a master of his craft.