Review: The House of Twelve by Sean Davies

Synopsis: Twelve strangers wake up in a strange house with no memory of how they got there, and barely any recollection of who they are. They quickly learn that there is no way out, scarcely enough food and water to go around, and eerie music plays constantly in the background of every room. There is nothing to explain their mysterious incarceration except for a few scattered clues, a strange clock with twenty-four numbers and one single hour hand, and a leather-bound sheet of rules that makes their situation all the more fatal.

We predominantly following the character of "Sarah", we are taken through events on a day by day basis. The rules are very clear:

Rule one: No escape. You can’t leave, plain and simple. Try to escape and you won’t like what you find on the other side.

Rule two: Make what you have last. Whatever food and water you currently find in the house is all that you will be provided with during your stay. No more will be given to you under any circumstance.

Rule three: When the music stops, someone must die. The music you can all hear in the background will cease between the hour of twenty-three and twenty-four; when this happens someone must die. Failure to comply with this rule will result in everyone’s death.

Rule four: Only one, and only when the music stops! One death, and only one death, must occur in the allotted time between the hour of twenty-three and twenty-four. Again, failure to comply with this rule will result in everyone’s death.

Redemption is the key to escape. But for some, this is this learned all too late?

This is one of those "must read in one sitting" books with a killer twist at the end. Definitely pays homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" - twelve people and each night one must die to save the rest. 

Although devoid of memory except their names, along the way we discover a little more about the twelve prisoners - you know that not all will make it out alive. What type of people were these prisoners will slowly be revealed as the days count down to the last person standing ... and what happens then?