Rating: 3 stars

Oscar Cambell is a model citizen, living in Candor, Florida; a planned community built by his father. With a waiting list of more than a year and a $1 million plus price tag, new people move to Candor, but nobody ever leaves.

Candor is a haven for families with problem children. Subliminal messages of compliance, obedience and honesty are woven into the music that plays everywhere all the time. For the really tough cases, “boosters” are used to directly address specific needs like drugs, crime or even beauty pageant fixations. After a week, the worst kids are happily doing chores around the house, spending most of their time studying or working on ways to contribute to the greater good of the community.

Although he puts on a front of being the perfect son and student, Oscar has discovered a way to block his father's messages out of his own mind and has made a lucrative business out of teaching rich kids do the same. For a hefty fee, Oscar provides CDs of his own messages and when the client is ready, he has them transported out of Candor.

Nia Silva is new to Candor. Representing all that is forbidden, she's a breath of fresh air for Oscar. At first Oscar sees Nia as his next client, but soon he's falling in love with her. Unless he can get the head-strong Nia to play along with the charade, Oscar will have to get her out of Candor or lose her forever to the messages. Either way she will be gone.

The fact that the author wrote this story after living in Disney's planned community of Celebration, Florida almost qualifies it for non-fiction. Under the surface, Disney is a sort of evil empire and if anybody has ever worked with them, they'd know exactly what I mean--I'd be more surprised to find out Disney didn't play subliminal messages in their parks and communities.

Throughout the book, I couldn't help but wonder why Oscar didn't leave Candor sooner; he had plenty of money. There was no reason to stay for the father, he was a cold-hearted, bitter, self-serving bastard, punishing everybody for his own personal issues and short-comings. I also wondered how Oscar's father didn't succumb to the messages and become a robot too. Despite my ponderings, I found the story to be creative and entertaining.

On one hand (send money), it's awful to consider having your mind manipulated and losing your free will (send money). On the other hand (send money), the idea of never worrying about anything (send money), living in a safe and cohesive environment (send money) where everybody is courteous and conscientious might not be such a bad thing.

For those of you have an urge to send money--although I have no idea why you'd feel that way--my paypal account is standing by.
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Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: EgmontUSA (September 22, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-1606840122