Book Review: The Forgetting Curve by Angie Smibert

THE FORGETTING CURVE is the sequel to MEMENTO NORA (see my review). While it would help to read MEMENTO NORA first, I think the sequel stands on its own pretty well.

MEMENTO NORA was narrated by three different characters: Nora, Micah and Winter.  For THE FORGETTING CURVE, we once again get Winter as a narrator as well as Winter's cousin Aiden and Winter's friend Velvet.

Winter doesn't remember anything of the events of MEMENTO NORA, but before she was brain bleached, she sent Aiden copies of Micah's underground comic MEMENTO.  Aiden comes home from his boarding school in Switzerland to intern at his father's tech company - a company he increasingly suspects may be in bed with the TFC (Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic). Aiden has to put his hacker skills to good use to figure out what sinister acts are going down ... before it's too late.

THE FORGETTING CURVE goes even further down the rabbit hole -- and we start to get a picture of TFC's real endgame.  The implications are chilling. I loved all the musings on memory and how they worked into the overall plot. Very clever.  Take this line:

It was the old Forgetting Curve thing (...) Memories fade over time - unless you periodically reinforce them.


Seems relatively innocuous by itself -- but trust me, context is everything.

Like in the first book, the world building details really immerse you in a near-future world where companies take advantage of people's fears to make money. To me, Aiden was an utterly believable hacker, and his voice was markedly different to Winter's (and Velvet's).  I hope he'll be back for book 3.

THE FORGETTING CURVE will be available May 1, 2012.  Find out more about the series at the official website.

See index of all dystopian reviews at Presenting Lenore

FTC disclosure: I read an eGalley of the book provided by the publisher via NetGalley