Inspired by the real-life works of parapsychologist Joseph Banks Rhine at Duke University between 1927 and 1965, Alexandra Sokoloff's "The Unseen" explores the dark-basement-stored-files of the experiments in extrasensory perception.

Laurel puts an end to her engagement after a precognitive dream leads to her to discover her fiance's infidelity. She starts a new life, far from California, in North Carolina, as a psychology professor at Duke University. Discovering the files of the world-famous Rhine parapsychology lab experiments, Laurel is drawn to understand what happened then and what is happening now with her own mind.

As a new professor, she must publish or perish. With a topic having fallen right into her lap, she compulsively dives into the old files. Yet she is not alone. Being new to the area, and on the rebound, Laurel does not resist when a handsome professor expresses interest in teaming up on the project.

Reliving the testing methods of Duke's past, the two choose a panel of work-study students and begin reconstructing what was the last great trial of the Rhine experiment (though purely fictional). The team sets up shop in a reportedly haunted house, where ghostly goings-on entrance the visitors.

Laurel's theory is that a person's psychological state can cause paranormal activity to occur, but she is torn between that scientific approach and the fact that she herself is attuned to spiritual happenings, such as her precognitive dreams.

What goes in the house is dangerous to the minds of those involved. It becomes evident that paranormal activity affects the mind of the witness, more so than the other way around. Will any of those on the team escape with their capabilities to comprehend real life?

Sokoloff tells an unnerving tale. Spooky and scientific at the same time, "The Unseen" is an intelligent ghost story, based on famous reality.

This fantastic thriller is fast-paced and full of hidden passageways to the tricks that the mind can play, encouraging the reader to think through what is real, and what might not be, in the aspects of love, circumstance and the paranormal.