Fourth Novel from alumna Kate Bradley
Congratulations on the launch of your new book The Institute which is about to come out – could you tell us what it is about? Thank you. The Institute has been described as a Black Mirror meets Shutter Island, which works well for me! It starts when a group of students jump off a train platform into the path of an arriving train. The lone survivor, Billie, cannot recall the incident, but is adamant that she and her friends weren’t suicidal. Desperate for answers, Billie agrees to sign herself into the care of the Arbor Institute, a mysterious, corporate-backed research body investigating a disturbing rise in similar incidents around the globe. At the Institute, Billie learns more about ‘flock phenomena’, where people band together to self-destruct. She is told that she’s at risk of ‘re-flocking’, and if she does, she will likely die. But not everything is as it seems. When Billie discovers that she and her fellow survivors have been completely cut off from the outside world, she realizes they may not be safe. And as she sets her sights on survival, the Institute may regret taking her under their wing. Because this wounded fledgling might turn out to be a bird of prey…
What inspired you to write this book? I was reading an account of when social media, Twitter / X specifically, had been trialled. The designers discussed a group of people responding to a message as if they were acting like a flock – moving and making decisions without speaking, yet cohesive and together. I thought how powerful it would be if people could move together, make decisions together, and act together without speaking – and how dangerous it might be in the wrong hands.
The Institute is your fourth book, has your writing process changed over the course of four books? I’m not sure it hasn’t in many way: I like writing about ordinary women being put into terrible, difficult, impossible situations and then watching them work their way out of it – and becoming something wonderful in the process.
Your writing has been described by T.M Logan as ‘addictive, original and brilliantly twisty’. What are your top tips on keeping up the tension in a psychological thriller? I suggest raise lots of questions in your readers’ minds – and don’t stop raising questions until the last line. A great thriller doesn’t just start with a dramatic beginning, it’s got to be sustained.
What are you working on now? Something twisty and with more impossible situations!
Is there any advice you could give to the writers on the CWP course now, as they start their writing journeys? I want to give them all encouragement: I had no contacts in the publishing industry and just worked hard, took feedback, and read closely. It is possible to be published – but the main thing is to enjoy it. That way you can’t lose.
The Institute is published by Simon & Schuster and is out on 26th February 2026. Buy a copy here