My Sister the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite

Once upon a time, two very different sisters shared a home in Nigeria with their mother and a handful of servants. Their father, a corrupt and brutal man, has died – but not before leaving his indelible mark on both daughters. During his lifetime, the girls feared their father much more than they loved or admired him, but now that he is dead, they still try to live their lives in a manner that would make him proud of them. They can’t help themselves.

Korede and Ayoola are sisters, but they could hardly be more different. Korede, the oldest of the two, is a tall, “sensible” woman of average looks who works for a charismatic doctor in a small clinic. She gets along well with the young doctor, and although he hardly notices it, Korede is falling in love with him. Ayoola, on the other hand, is very short, with stunning good looks; the word “sensible” is not one likely ever to come up in anyone’s description of her. As Oyinkan Braithwaite reveals in My Sister the Serial Killer, the more appropriate s-word for Ayoola probably would be “sociopath.”

Oyinkan Braithwaite

Early on in My Sister the Serial Killer, Korede receives a shocking phone call from Ayoola that by this point in their relationship is not really unexpected. Ayoola has just killed her third boyfriend with the same knife, and once again the tiny Ayoola needs her big sister’s help in disposing of the body. The always sensible Korede knows that her sister is a murderer, and she understands that telling the police about Ayoola’s tendency to end relationships so permanently is the right thing to do. But she’s had three chances to do the right thing now, and hasn’t done it yet. Ayoola is, after all, her only sister, and Korede will do whatever it takes to protect her sister from the law.

But that all changes on the day that Korede learns Ayoola’s new boyfriend is none other than the same young doctor she herself has been fantasizing about for months. Korede knows that she can’t just sit back and wait for the man she loves to become her sister’s next victim. But how can she stop Ayoola before it is too late, and how far is she willing to go to do it?

Bottom Line: My Sister the Serial Killer is satirical comedy disguised as bloody crime fiction. It is as much about sibling rivalry and how adult relationships between siblings are shaped by events shared in childhood, as it is about serial killings and the disposal of bodies. The bloody, bizarre novel is laugh-out-loud funny at times, and it’s filled with a handful of memorable characters that left me wishing it had been a little bit longer than it is. This one is fun, so don’t let all of the blood in it put you off it.