Today’s books are anything but old school.

Once upon a time a good novel was, as they say in philosophy, a thing in itself, a material object composed of atoms structured into a discrete number of pages. Your involvement with the book was limited to reading, imagining and perhaps discussing it in a book club or, if you happen to be the book’s author, and are quite lucky, on Oprah.

Not anymore.

Witness Personal Effects: Dark Art, a new supernatural thriller that follows art therapist Zach Taylor’s investigation of an accused serial killer who claims to have foreseen, but not caused, his victims’ deaths. Library Journal’s review calls it “the future of modern fiction.”

Created by Jordan Weisman, Dark Art combines the experience of a traditional novel with a multimedia-fueled “out of book” narrative. Clues in the novel, and items that come with the novel, such as ID cards and photos, propel readers into an online experience where they become protagonists themselves.

You can call phone numbers and get a character’s voicemail. Google characters and find them on real websites. Even discover in the art and other printed artifacts inside the book’s cover information and clues about the characters. This makes the reader a participant in the fiction events of the story, and thus more involved.

Of course, this kind of online extension is nothing new in the world of television dramas and reality shows, but it is new in the world of publishing. The dematerialization of information and content is expanding the possibilities of what it means to read and enjoy a book. Something that extends through time and space in a whole new way.