Based on the entity known as The Rake, When The Clock Strikes Twelve tells the story of a young woman who has recently been released from the local Asylum. The woman, named Kelly, booked a trip to Georgia with her friends, Joshua, Jackson, Cheyenne, Ann, Ruth, and Dorothy, as well as her boyfriend, Jeremy, only for the bus to crash in the middle of a dirt road besides a local wooded area. However, the group soon discovers a sinister creature lurking nearby, who psychologically torments and murders the group one by one during the midnight hours. But that's not the only danger the group runs into, as Kelly is mentally victimized by a voice that tells her horrible things, who calls itself "The Voice".
Antique store owner Liz brings home a Victorian taxidermy hound from auction, unwittingly unleashing dark forces on her wife and son.
*****
Nat Loman has finally married the love of her life, Liz, and is getting used to her role as stepmother to Liz's 5-year-old son, Liam. The Loman family runs a bustling antique business so they attend a sale where a striking, black taxidermied hound is up for auction. Liz picks it up for the business, but it ends up being stored in their home, where Nat notices strange things occurring. She quickly discovers the past residents had died violently. Then she hears from a friend about the myth of "the devil's dog", a hound that perches in the shadows, tearing families apart from the inside. Soon, people around the Lomans are dying, and Liz is changing, darkening. It's up to Nat to save the woman she loves from the darkness closing in, and to save Liam from danger no matter what she has to sacrifice.
[[Winner of the 2018 Wattys "Hidden Gems" category]]
[[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]