FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Some Debts Are Never Truly Paid: Shadows After Midnight Delivers a Thrilling Ride Through Darkness and Redemption
Pleasant Grove, NY – August 23, 2024 – A seventeen-year-old girl sneaks out to a Manhattan nightclub. Two rehab counselors follow her. Her parents wait at home, hoping their daughter will finally get help. What happens next sets off a chain of events that will leave readers breathless.
Shadows After Midnight, the gripping new crime thriller from Laura Monti, delivers a harrowing journey through the dark underbelly of human trafficking, the devastating cycle of addiction, and the lengths a parent will go to protect their child.
The story begins on a humid late summer evening. Amanda Williams has no idea her parents have arranged for her to enter a rehab program the very next morning. Two counselors from the facility track her to the club, tasked with safely transporting the cocaine addicted teen to the Adirondack Mountains. But Amanda never arrives at the treatment center.
A complex plan hijacks her journey north. The scheme intends to reroute the teen to a private hospital in coastal South Carolina. But the carefully laid plan unravels into a web of lies, deceit, and betrayal. What follows is a harrowing descent into a nightmare that will test every character’s strength and resolve.
Monti weaves a multi-layered narrative that moves from the gritty streets of New York City to a terrifying house of horrors hidden in plain sight deep within the South Carolina woods. From there, the story transports readers to a private island in the Bahamas where a grieving man holds secrets that will change everything. The novel crisscrosses between multiple perspectives, allowing readers to experience the fear, desperation, and hope of each character caught in this quagmire of suspense.
The core message of Shadows After Midnight is both urgent and universal. The world is filled with criminal-minded individuals who care nothing about humanity and are driven by careless greed. Monti forces readers to confront the reality that such evil exists everywhere, and that turning a blind eye only enables it further. Yet the novel also offers hope. It demonstrates that humans are capable of profound change when hope and love prove stronger than hate and destruction. The book targets adult readers aged eighteen and above, appealing to both men and women who enjoy crime thrillers with heart. Fans of Gillian Flynn and Mario Puzo will find familiar territory here, yet Monti’s voice remains distinctly her own.
The author draws from deeply personal experience. What began as a short story in a writing class over twenty years ago grew into this sprawling seven-hundred-page novel. Inspired by sleepless nights worrying about her own son during his rebellious years, Monti transformed that maternal anxiety into a tale of a teenage girl’s struggle. Her frequent trips to South Carolina sparked her curiosity about those long, deserted driveways leading to seemingly nowhere. Those hidden places became the setting for the novel’s most chilling scenes. A cruise to the Bahamas provided the inspiration for the private island and the yacht that play pivotal roles in the story. In a deeply personal touch, the author included a yacht named Fortunato, her father’s name, as a subtle tribute to the man she believes still watches over her.
Monti’s writing style masterfully balances fast-paced suspense with deep emotional resonance. She does not shy away from the gritty realities of drug addiction and withdrawal, nor does she romanticize the violence of organized crime. Her prose is sharp and cinematic, painting vivid pictures of both the darkness and the beauty her characters encounter. The dialogue crackles with authenticity, and the multiple storylines converge with precision in the novel’s explosive climax. Readers will find themselves racing through the pages, desperate to know what happens next, yet pausing to absorb the emotional weight of each revelation.
Shadows After Midnight is available now on Amazon and at all major online retailers and bookstores.
For more information, review copies, or to schedule an interview with Laura Monti, please contact:
Laura Monti
Author Email: michelottima@aol.com
Author Contact: 914-400-7019
About Laura Monti
The author’s own journey to publication mirrors the perseverance found within her novel. Laura Monti is a wife, mother of adult children, and grandmother of four. She resides in south-central Westchester County, New York, and spends several months each year in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A writer of poetry, short stories, and essays for many years, Monti earned her BA from the State University of New York at Purchase, graduating Summa Cum Laude, and later earned an MAW and MFA from Manhattanville University.
Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and online networks. Her previous publications include The Last Christmas Tree under her own name and A Christmas Match Made in Heaven under the pen name Brianna Lorin. When she is not writing, Monti draws inspiration from the world around her, finding stories in the ordinary and the extraordinary alike.
