Shouting Into The Darkness

Author: Matthew Laughrin

Publisher: Laughrin Books LLC (2025)

On March 1, 2009, Matthew Laughrin’s life changed forever. A Milwaukee Police Department tactical team burst into his home and arrested him for the fatal drug overdose of a teenage girl. The girl had died in his house the previous evening while he was asleep. Matthew was no stranger to drugs, addiction, or death—they were the forces that had consumed his life since childhood. But this time the consequences would be different.

Ultimately convicted of second-degree reckless homicide, Matthew was sentenced to twelve years in prison for his role in the fatal overdose. Incarcerated, he was forced to confront his addiction, mental illness, and the systems put in place to treat them. He knew from experience jail and rehab seldom led to long-lasting sobriety, especially when mental illness was involved, and sought out to understand why.

Shouting into the Darkness follows Matthew’s raw, unflinching journey through addiction, mental illness, and, finally, sobriety. It also exposes a deeper truth, a society unwilling or incapable of understanding those who struggle with the burden of mental illness and drug addiction.