Candor by Pam Bachorz

Candor, Florida is more than the perfect place to live: it is the answer to all your problems. Have an eating disorder, drug addiction, or rebellious teenager? Not to worry, come to Candor and within weeks the deformities of your previous, imperfect life will vanish, free will and all.

At Candor, everyone is happy and no one wants to leave. In fact, the waiting list to move into Candor is years-long. That’s the way Campbell Banks, founder of Candor, wants it. And that’s the way he intends to keep it.

The only teen who knows the secret of Candor’s brainwashing Messages is Campbell Banks’s son, Oscar. He’s also the only person, besides his father, who knows how to fight the subliminal brainwashing that occurs everywhere and every second in Candor. Oscar himself is a minor celebrity at Candor, and he uses it as a cover for his more nefarious dealings in Candor: helping rich, new kids leave. No one suspects Oscar, model teen, until the arrival of Nia Silva, an exciting and individualistic artist. Nia’s free-spirited ways makes Oscar want to keep her close to him, at the risk of revealing his dangerous secret.

And it is a dangerous secret: those who rebel, who cannot be controlled by the Messages, are sent to the Listening Room, where their minds are erased, with horrific side effects. Things unravel out of Oscar’s meticulous control as the couple hurtles towards tragedy, and Oscar finds himself forced to make tough decisions, ones that might cost him his mind and his free will.

Readers of dystopic fiction might find Pam Bachorz’s Candor interesting with its social criticism and resemblance to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The characters are realistic and well-developed, but somehow the romance between Nia and Oscar seem forced and unnatural. While the last hundred pages or so are gripping and thoroughly engrossing, the novel takes its time to get into high gear. And as for the ending—readers will either find it chilling, or disappointing.

Bachorz, Pam. Candor. EgmontUSA, 2009.

Pam Bachorz Website