Each of the 10 chapters concerns a specific topic, and there could be one spooky story, or several, covered therein. They include situations such as a boy seemingly born with memories of a past life as a Nazi, or another with memories of being a small-time Hollywood actor in the 30's and 40's. Another chapter covers old items with something evil attached to them, such as a man who acquired an old "Dybbuk box" from the family of a Holocaust survivor and its apparent aura of evil that affected (sometimes horrifyingly) many aspects of those connected to the box. There's a chapter on UFO sightings and another on the apparent demonic possession of a young German woman and the lengths her family took to rid her of this evil force. Still another discusses an unidentified corpse and the cryptic path taken to attempt to identify him. Yet another seems to be heading into more UFO territory, but takes a monster turn towards The Mothman, while another covers infamous murder properties such as hotels where an inordinately large number of people have died under odd circumstances. Another covers a family who cheaply bought a ranch that apparently was on Native American "skinwalker" land and was forever plagued by terrifying incidents. Naturally, the Slender Man has his own chapter, and the final chapter is in true ghost story fashion and recounts the tale of a young California woman named Jackie who was terrorized by ghosts in a house she bought.
Some of the stories were really interesting, some not as much, and some seemed a bit of a stretch to me. However, for me personally, the main drawback is the fact that every creepy story was heartily bookended by so much scientific, psychological or philosophical background that I grew fatigued at reading the book. Honestly, I felt like I was doing homework and getting through the book was a drudge; writing the review more so. I am not trying to dog the book, but for anyone who wants to read it, I feel like they need to know what they are getting into as this book came out around Halloween and I was really looking forward to tearing through a bunch of scary stories. That's not what this book is.
I brought Unexplained on a 7-day cruise, expecting to read it in a day or so, since I am a ridiculously fast reader. I brought 3 books on a 4-day cruise earlier this year and had to find more reading material in the ship's library, so I thought for sure, I had better bring lots of books for 7 days. I couldn't even get through this book on that trip because I would get tired after reading 10-15 pages or so (I typically read 75-100 pages/night), and then the next day, I couldn't remember a thing I had read, which is very odd for me. Maybe I have the start of my own "unexplained" story...
Long story short, if you read the excerpt on Amazon in its entirety and you are still all-in, don't hesitiate to pick up this book, but if you find yourself bored by what follows the WWII story, then know in advance this is what 65% of the book is like, only in more detail. Yes, Smith apparently did his homework for these stories and he has invested lots of time and reasearch into this book, but it just didn't thrill me. I feel like fans of Smith's existing podcast or "The Lone Gunmen" from The X Files might nerd out on this book, but it just wasn't for me.
