Candor

Candor is a young adult dystopian novel by Pam Bachorz. First published in 2019 by Egmont USA, the plot centers around a perfect community controlled by subliminal messaging, and the teenagers who want to break the cycle. The book received generally positive reviews upon publication and was nominated for both the 2009 Cybils Award and the 2010 Florida Teens Read Award. Candor is Bachorz’s debut novel. There’s no sequel planned, although Bachorz later published another young adult dystopian novel. She has four degrees in subjects varying from Journalism to Environmental Science.

Oscar Banks has a seemingly perfect life. He’s a teenager living in the small community of Candor, Florida, which his father founded after the death of Oscar’s brother. He’s the most popular boy in school and everyone looks up to him. His achievements include being a straight-A student, student-body president and a member of numerous extra-curricular clubs. All the local parents love him and want their children to be more like him.

Oscar, however, knows not all is what it seems in Candor. It’s a place where there’s no such thing as crime, children never behave out of line, and everyone is nice to each other—almost too nice. There’s a long waiting list of people wanting to relocate to the area, but Oscar’s not convinced by the façade the town puts on. He knows this pristine behavior is uncanny, and he starts wondering why.



Oscar learns that his father, who’s still the town mayor, is using mind control and subliminal messaging to make everyone behave the way he wants them to. These “Messages,” which are spread through music, alter human behavior, and bend everyone to the mayor’s will. However, Oscar decides to start spreading Messages of his own.

Because he’s such an esteemed member of the community, no one suspects Oscar’s up to anything. But, it’s not long before Oscar discovers another horrifying truth—the adults in Candor know their children listen to these subliminal messages, and they want it to continue. Oscar has no idea how to “fix” Candor if people keep bringing their children here to knowingly turn them into clones. Breaking codes in radio waves isn’t enough.

Oscar’s mother eventually leaves them, because she also knows what the mayor’s doing. She doesn’t want to be a part of it, but he won’t let her take Oscar away. She thinks it’s safer for everyone if she goes on her own. It’s not clear if Oscar forgives her for this, but his father tells him bad people can’t stay in Candor and it’s better that she goes. She doesn’t ever seem to tell the authorities about what’s happening in Candor.



Frustrated by everything, Oscar only tries to help teenagers in Candor escape the subliminal messages when he thinks it suits his own ends. He’s not interested in the long-term, wider repercussions of a system like this—understandable, since he’s a teenager. It’s not until a special girl comes along that he starts looking at everything differently.

Nia is anything but compliant. She speaks her mind and is very free-spirited. She intimidates Oscar at first, because she’s so loud and deliberately rebellious. He thinks he’s free-thinking until he meets her—and he’s in awe. He worries because it’s only a matter of time before Nia stops thinking for herself, and he doesn’t want this to happen. He’s furious at her parents for bringing her to Candor, but this anger won’t make them move away.

Instead, Oscar decides to take his own subliminal messaging to the next level. He wants to influence how Nia and others think. He knows this is just as bad as what his father does, but he justifies it by saying that it’s for a greater good. However, no action is without consequence. Oscar inadvertently makes her like him too much and she becomes obsessed with him. Mind control is not the answer—he needs to stop all forms of mind control in Candor forever.



It’s not possible, though, for Oscar to stop the Messages on his own. The adults are too powerful, and they won’t let go of the music and the influence it has on their children. When he explains to Nia what exactly is going on, they decide to leave Candor to its fate. Oscar doesn’t know where his mother is, and Nia has no family she can go to, but together they’ll find their own way. Unfortunately, Oscar doesn’t get the ending he’s hoping for.

Nia manages to escape. She’s ferried away in a vehicle that Oscar arranged for them both. However, Oscar’s caught by his father, and he’s taken back into the heart of Candor. Once he tells his father what’s going on and that he’s leaving, his father doesn’t let him go the way he let Oscar’s mother leave. Instead, he brainwashes Oscar to forget everything—including Nia. Nia doesn’t know this, but she knows he’s been caught. At the end, Oscar is compliant and the perfect son—only this time, it’s not an act, because he’s truly brainwashed.