My Sister, the Serial Killer: The Sunday Times Bestseller

by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Sunday Times bestseller and The Times #1 bestseller

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2019
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019
Winner of the 2019 LA Times Award for Best Crime Thriller
Capital Crime Debut Author of the Year 2019
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'A literary sensation'
Guardian

'A bombshell of a book... Sharp, explosive, hilarious'
New York Times

'Glittering and funny... A stiletto slipped between the ribs and through the left ventricle of the heart' Financial Times
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When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other...

• ISBN10: 178649597X
• ISBN13: 9781786495976
• Publish Date: 3 January 2019 (first published 20 November 2018)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 16 November 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Atlantic Books
• Edition: Main
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

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!