Crowam 281 by Frank Nunez

Jake Hudson was an American orphan in London whose father was shot down flying for the RAF. His mother was killed in a car wreck back in the states. Feeling disenfranchised and alone. Jake gets kicked out of numerous orphanages, causing trouble wherever he goes. He eventually lands in Crowam 281. A school for troubled boys. It is here he comes across the school’s headmaster, Mr. Hugo, a tyrannical figure who enjoys punishing and torturing the school’s students. Hudson realizes this is no ordinary orphanage. From boys disappearing to tortuous screams heard from the inner workings of Crowam, Hudson senses something sinister is at work. In Jake’s first attempt at escape, he discovers the true nature of this institution, and realizes no one is supposed to leave Crowam 281 alive.