They Say Shimmer Makes You Forget. Anouk Knows It Takes Everything
In rain-soaked New Albion, shimmer is both escape and enslavement—and the Bureau for Virtue makes sure everyone stays hooked. When Anouk’s closest friend is dragged into the Midnight Factory, she’s forced into a resistance whose ideals are as compromised as its methods.
About the Book
Anouk knows shimmer ruins lives. She just never expected it to take Jimmy’s. When her closest friend is seized in a Bureau raid and taken to the Midnight Factory, she’s thrust into a resistance where every choice wounds, and every truth cuts deeper.
What begins as a desperate rescue becomes a confrontation with shimmer’s horrific origins and the lies that rebuilt a broken world. As the Bureau closes in and withdrawal claws at her mind, Anouk must decide what she is willing to save—and what she is willing to become.
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Praise For The Midnight Factory
"...a dystopian sci-fi story that will grab your attention from start
to finish. It shows that through small acts of kindness—and even through courageous acts of
defiance—hope can still shine in the darkest of places... emotionally
moving and thought-provoking."
5-Star Readers' Favorite Review
What You Will Discover
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A rain-soaked dystopian country rebuilt after the Great Change
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A regime controlling citizens through addictive shimmer
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A heroine battling withdrawal, loyalty, and impossible choices
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The infamous Midnight Factory and the truth behind its locked doors
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A resistance fighting with methods as questionable as its enemy
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A story of addiction, complicity, and fragile hope
Perfect For Fans Of...
If you love dystopian fiction that blends gritty realism, psychological pressure, and intimate, character-driven stakes, The Midnight Factory is for you.
Readers who enjoyed the raw, visceral edge of:
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The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh
Fans of claustrophobic, high-pressure dystopias like:
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Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Readers drawn to emotionally intense, character-first speculative worlds such as:
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Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
And lovers of atmospheric, quiet-dread dystopias like:
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The Road by Cormac McCarthy
If you’re into dreamlike dystopias, gritty survival fiction, or psychologically charged speculative worlds, you’ll feel the pull of The Midnight Factory from page one.
Acclaim For The Midnight Factory
"The story is told at a masterful pace, with bits of worldbuilding slowly revealed as the characters move through their grim world... In this darkness, each revelation about the true nature of the world hits like a gut punch... Tender humanity and hope bloom amid the bleakest, most desperate dystopia"
5-Star Reedsy Discovery Review
About the Author
Russell Luyt
Russell Luyt grew up in South Africa before moving to the United Kingdom, where he built a career in social psychology and academic writing. Now based in Paris, he has traded lecture halls for quiet cafés, bringing a lifelong fascination with human behaviour into the world of fiction.
After years of writing academic literature, he now enjoys exploring stories that speak to both the heart and the mind—narratives shaped by psychological depth, emotional truth, and the fragile resilience of humanity.
The Midnight Factory
the first novel in
The Shimmerfall Trilogy
© 2025 Russell Luyt
