My Sister, the Serial Killer: A Novel

by Oyinkan Braithwaite

"Pulpy, peppery and sinister, served up in a comic deadpan...This scorpion-tailed little thriller leaves a response, and a sting, you will remember."--NEW YORK TIMES

"The wittiest and most fun murder party you've ever been invited to."--MARIE CLAIRE

WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR MYSTERY/THRILLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 WOMEN'S PRIZE

A short, darkly funny, hand grenade of a novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends

"Femi makes three, you know. Three and they label you a serial killer."

Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead.

Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her.

Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite's deliciously deadly debut is as fun as it is frightening.

• ISBN10: 0385544235
• ISBN13: 9780385544238
• Publish Date: 20 November 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Doubleday & Co Inc.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 240
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780385544238

Reviews

[Mercy]

3.5/5

[jamiereadthis]

I have a feeling this is going to be one of those pebbles that gets stuck in my shoe, poking into my thoughts just when I think I’ve forgotten. Darkly funny, and the kind of narrative to make me second-guess things as it goes along. Very into sharp satire that doesn’t even feel like it’s satire for most of the book.

[Amber]

Review to come!

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[zooloo1983]

I am going to just say it, on January 10th, when I finished this book on the Pigeonhole app, I said to myself I think I have just read a contender, if not, the book of the year and it is only ten days in!! This book was deliciously good fun to read. I wasn’t sure what to expect when this came up on pigeonhole, and I will admit I wasn’t sure about the book cover. But once I was in I realised how foolish I had been and how fitting the cover is to this awesome story!

Reading this daily in staves killed me and I must admit I stopped near the end because I wanted to blast it in one go but also I didn’t want to turn the last page over. Told always from Korede point of view, the older sister. She is always overlooked and outshone by her sister Ayoola, the serial killer. The chapters are snappy as Korede starts the tale with the third murder Ayoola has committed, apparently in self-defence, with flashbacks to their hazardous past with their father.

I found myself laughing out loud a lot, in what I consider to be a wickedly dark dark comedy. Korede moral compass wavering and Ayoola complete disregard to what she has done and is completely spoilt. No wonder Korede got frustrated!! Ayoola just could not fathom how it was not ok to be eating ice cream and moaning that some fell on the floor when the sister of the man you killed is crying!! Priceless!

Korede was a character I adored at the beginning you felt for her, living in her sisters’ shadow, cleaning up her mess and everyone believing the lies that Ayoola said about her. She found peace telling a patient, who was in a coma, everything that was going on, her only outlet to be honest…so what happens when he wakes up?


Korede is also 100% completely in love with a Doctor, the charming handsome Tade, but he spots Ayoola and you just wonder if time will run out for him?

This is set in Lagos in Nigeria, the backdrop in this book was amazing! I have always wanted to visit Nigeria, so I felt for a short while I was there. You are also privy to some of the local lingo, which I loved. It gave this book a bit more of an authentic feel.

While it was a dark comedy, the deaths were very real and the police hunt gave the book an edge. As they begin to close in on the girls, you can not foresee how this was going to end, and I really DID NOT want it to end!

It is refreshing, snappy, intense, funny and just delicious! It is a book I think everyone should read. Quite simply I thought it was amazing! I can not say it plainer than that. I was hooked from page one and so it was frustrating waiting the next day for the stave to be released and I think it amplified it for me. I didn’t just rush along, I read my bit and then I got to sit back and devour what I had read. Let it sink in and then think What the hell?!?!? There is definitely more I want to say about My Sister, The Serial Killer but I can not and will not take that enjoyment away from anyone. So many one-liners thrown in by the just as crazy Korede. Ayoola and her seemingly innocent ways and Tade the man who fell for the wrong sister.

Seriously just pick up the book, I promise you, you won’t regret it!