Review: Candor by Pam Bachorz

Candor by Pam Bachorz
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Pub. Date: September 22, 2009
Age Range: 12
256pp

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Pam Bachorz delivered a thrilling debut novel full of suspense, betrayal and forbidden romance.

Picture this: One day your family moves to this beautiful little town where all the residents are nice, environment friendly, the teens don’t break curfew, they eat healthy and they strive for excellence by constantly studying and excelling in their classes. Well, that doesn’t sound too bad right? Well not for Oscar Banks who’s been living in Candor, FL since it was founded and he knows the truth… Everyone is being controlled by subliminal messages and he’s found a way to work around the loopholes to help others. Oscar has a perfect system that allows him to do as he pleases until he meets Nia, a girl who’s captured his heart and he wants her just the way she is, but at what cost will he go against everything he‘s worked for to keep her in his life…

I enjoyed the uniqueness of the characters in Candor. First there’s Oscar, the golden boy who can do no wrong that everyone looks up to and then there’s the real Oscar, the rebel that no one gets to see unless you’re one of his clients and I loved that about this story seeing him managing the different personas in different situations. Bachorz did a fantastic job with the characters in Candor. There were some touching moments then there were the laugh out loud moments which I really enjoyed coming from what goes on inside Oscar’s head.

Candor is a great sci-fi story and I enjoyed the pacing of the story which kept the suspense up to compel me to read this book down to very last page nonstop. I had to know how everything would pan out for Oscar especially with how serious the consequences for not being “Candor like” involved. Just when I assumed what I thought the ending would be, I got an eye opener. Now that’s what I get for assuming because the ending was “WOW!” It was so unexpected.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars