SOLVED. YA - amnesiac boys imprisoned in abandoned monastery [s]

[Leela4]

I read it in the 1980s. Author might be near the beginning of the alphabet (A, B, C). Young adult thriller with the grittiness of books like "I Am the Cheese" or "Lord of the Flies". I thought it was called "The Cage", but I'm not having any luck finding it.

Starts with a young man waking up in a cell suffering amnesia. A nameplate on his door says O'Malley, so he takes that as his name. He explores and soon finds another boy. They find a third (Baines or such such name) trying to pick the lock of what they assume is the way out. Over time more boys appear and eventually they do get through the door to discover they're imprisoned in a large complex (later revealed to be a monastery).

The middle of the book shakes up the reader's assumptions, as all the boys turn out be be sociopaths of one stripe or another.

The end of the book is pretty disorganized. Two of the boys figure out another is a spy and get the whole story from him. Er, and any more detail would give away the ending. Suffice it to say the most memorable bits concern a pyromaniac, a boy who escapes on his own by literally going over the wall, and the spy on the roadside trying to hitch a ride.

[Leela4]

I'm wondering if I might have the title right after all. Might it be The cage: A novel by Roy Brown?

[Mir]

Were you able to find and read the book to see if it is the right one?

[Leela4]

It's too rare for me to find a copy. But I've found someone who also read it and he says Roy Brown's book is indeed the right one.

Moving to Solved. Successfully shelved.

[Lisa]

Thanks, Leela!