The Unseen

by Alexandra Sokoloff

Book Overview

A terrifying novel of suspense based on the Rhine parapsychology experiments at Duke University After experiencing a precognitive dream that ends her engagement and changes her life forever, a young psychology professor from California decides to get a fresh start by taking a job at Duke University in North Carolina. She soon becomes obsessed with the files from the world-famous Rhine parapsychology lab experiments, which attempted to prove ESP really...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031238470X
• ISBN13: 9780312384708
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

I give it a five, loved the book and the writing just kept you wanting not to stop reading.

Enticing and thrilling, primordial folklore meets new age intelligence

I read a lot of horror and supernatural fiction so naturally I have read all of Sokoloff's books and I liked this one the most. One warm April afternoon I spotted "The Unseen" with the corner of my eye at my local library while waiting for some complaint resolution ( someone took my Patterson book that I had on hold) and ended up walking home with it instead, after finishing it I still want to get my own copy to read again, the paper back coming out has a fantastic cover and this is something that I admired and I definitely want to read again in the future. The book started off slowly but somehow I kept coming back to the story, time constraints made it a slow read but I kept crawling back to it, I just had to know what happened. The novel has an air of sophistication to it, there is a certain amount of succulence in the paragraphs and after reading Alex's "The Price" and "The Harrowing" I can definitely say that this book shows the growth and tightness that the author managed to establish rather well. This might not please everyone but after finishing I smiled, I liked this book, I liked it a lot! Parapsychology and poltergeists are the meat of the story, or rather finding out if any of it actually occurred, the failed eerie Rhine ESP experiments at the Duke University parapsychology department have been buried and almost forgotten for forty years, that is until the dusty files ( 700 boxes of them) somehow call to Lauren, the new teacher who has seeked refuge and solace at the infamous Duke library under the stern eye of librarian Warden. Young and sensitive Lauren has moved away from a painful memory she left behind along with her beloved San Francisco; her cheating fiancée and that awful unexplained accident with mirrors are all in the past, that is until she runs across the old files that spark her interest in a new scholarly project. ESP has been a popular talent in her family and Lauren's interest and quest for closure has driven her to solve the riddle of the Rhine experiment that have shut an expensive house and put students in mental institution. Lauren has no idea what really awaits at the house, she thinks it's a hoax but she fears that it could be something real, something that will not only satisfy but perhaps even kill her curiosity. Equipped with plenty of food, score sheets and a fellow teacher and two bright students, she sets out to find the house and for once solve it's solemn mystery. Full of scares, enticing build up and even sexual tension, The Unseen guarantees a satisfying read, one perhaps best spend with someone else close by, just in case it gets too intense. I especially loved the shocking ending and the final pages, this proves that the author has what it takes, I can't wait for her next novel. This is a brightly woven tapestry full of wondrous words, the book only gets better the more I think about it and that's definitely what reading is all about. - Kasia S.

Sokoloff just keeps getting better!

The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff This is the third book Alex has written, and they just keep getting better! It is not a series. The story is about a professor of psychology, who after finding her boyfriend in bed with someone else while living in California, gets a job at Duke University in North Carolina. Her mother is from there and she still has an Aunt and Uncle living there. She is told she has to get published to maintain her job, so she searches for something to write about and stumbles on some recently released notes on some psychic research papers in the basement of the library at Duke. This leads to all kinds of interesting and scary research , ESP, haunted houses, real or imagined, or ? You will need to read this book to find out what she gets into, but let me tell you, it's not easy to read this and then sleep at night! But then, it is really hard to put it down long enough TO sleep. Outstanding book by Ms. Sokoloff! If you thought The Harrowing was good, or The Price, just wait until you read The Unseen! Highly recommended.

If you are unfamiliar with Sokoloff's work, THE UNSEEN is a great place to begin

Alexandra Sokoloff's novels flirt, entrance and seduce. Yes, they have elements of suspense, horror and, of course, romance. But unlike many works of fiction that skirt the borders of the horror genre or embrace it wholeheartedly, Sokoloff gently (and, on occasion, not so gently) nudges her reader into that bright, airy room with the crisp sheets and the partner with eyes so full of promise. It isn't until the spiders stop dropping on your bare back that you realize maybe all is not as it seems, even though the webs here and there should have given you plenty of warning. Sokoloff's work is much closer to Shirley Jackson's than to Craig Spector's; I was especially put in the mind of the former's work while reading THE UNSEEN, Sokoloff's latest novel. It is not that Sokoloff treads the territory that Jackson explored so well; rather, Sokoloff is both completing the work that Jackson left undone while expanding the boundaries that Jackson staked out. Thus, when you read this book, please remember my opening remarks. The first third of THE UNSEEN entrances. We watch how Dr. Laurel MacDonald, a professor of psychology, catches her fiancée in a leg-lock with a graduate student and immediately moves herself and her emotional baggage to Durham, North Carolina, where she has accepted a teaching position at Duke University. Mindful of the publish-or-perish maxim, MacDonald is struggling for a book topic when she stumbles upon the records of the Rhine ESP experiments that were conducted at Duke. MacDonald feels a strange draw to the research that was done, and more so when she discovers that her uncle, a gentle if odd recluse, appears to have some vague abilities of his own in the realm. While setting up her story, Sokoloff describes Durham and the Duke campus with an appreciative and practiced eye; she is one of those rare authors who not only can make you fall in love with a locale but also compel you to jump into an automobile for a road trip to check it out for yourself. Sokoloff additionally provides MacDonald with a potential romantic interest in the form of fellow professor Brendan Cody, a burning flame that MacDonald flits around without being singed. Which brings us to the second third of THE UNSEEN. The research of the professorial pair uncovers something referred to as the Folger House, a bizarre, long-abandoned structure that is not one house, but three joined together in the North Carolina countryside. Something happened in the Folger House that has been hidden in the mists of time, involving death, insanity, disappearances and, at the heart of it all, the apparent manifestation of a poltergeist. MacDonald and Cody, with a couple of oversexed and immature graduate students who have scored well above average in ESP testing, move into Folger House hoping to awaken whatever, or whoever, is within, in order to prove, once and for all, the existence of poltergeist activity. This brings us to the final third of THE UNSEEN, and the seduction. Fol

Spine-Tingling Thriller

After a traumatic end to a relationship, Laurel MacDonald accepts a job as a psychology professor at Duke University and makes the move from sunny California. Upon her arrival, she learns that in order to maintain her tenure at the University, she needs to get published. She uncovers a fifty year old study done by the Rhine psychology lab, a study on extrasensory perception that mysteriously went dormant. This study took place at the Folger House, a century-old home known for its supernatural activity. Participants in this survey either disappeared, went insane, or suffered other emotional/mental effects. Laurel learns that her uncle, once bright and outgoing, wiht a great future ahead of him, was a participant in this study. He's now a shell of a man with apparent mental defeciencies. Joined by Brendan Cody, another psychology professor, they find the Folger House and begin to recreate the infamous study with a new set of student participants. When they arrive at the house, it's not long before they begin to experience supernatural activity. Mysterious noises, odd feelings, only begin to explain the activity the team experience. Sokoloff once again does a stellar job with this one! The reader becomes entranced within the first few pages. Throughout the entire book, my spine tingled with anticipation. Laurel's character is extremely well developed. The reader uncovers more about her with every turned page. The secondary characters, while not extremely developed, do add a great deal to the story. The are both seriously flawed and it's hard to like them, but that adds to the overall atmosphere of the book. Highly highly recommended book, to any fan of ghosts stories, tales of extrasensory perception or the like. Contains: mild sex and language

super thriller

Duke University psychology professors Laurel MacDonald and Brendan Cody uncover the results of a study done five decades ago by the Rhine parapsychology lab at Folger House. Apparently, researchers were looking into poltergeist activity, but what the found was concealed. Eerily those who participated either died soon after, vanished without a trace or went insane. In fact Laurel's uncle was one of the parapsychologists, but he went stark crazy. Laurel and Brandon see the data as an opportunity for them to make a name at Duke. They persuade two students with indications of extrasensory skills to be monitored while spending time at Folger House. However, almost as soon as they enter, something evil begins an assault; Laurel and Brandon fear their ambition may have awakened the dormant cause behind what happened in 1965, but each wonders if the UNSEEN is human or something else. THE UNSEEN is a super thriller that has the audience hooked almost from the onset and maintains that grip throughout. Readers will wonder whether something from the paranormal or from the psychological world is occurring. The two investigators are perfect foibles as their ambition, naivete, and desires collide with the UNSEEN inside the infamous Folger House. Harriet Klausner