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…
Title: My Sister, the Serial Killer
Author: Oyinkan Braithwaite
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Date: September 26, 2019
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Expectations
In 2019 I joined an adult book club at my local Waterstones, as well as setting up my own YA one, and I’m so glad I did. As someone who doesn’t read a lot of adult titles, the book club has opened my up to reading books I wouldn’t usually choose.
I saw My Sister, the Serial Killer mentioned quite a bit in the online book world, with people on Twitter, blogs, and BookTube talking about it. So when we had a chance to read it for book club, I was intrigued to find out more about this book for myself so I could join in the conversation online.
A couple of years ago, I went through a phase of really loving mystery thrillers. I read and loved all the big ones – Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, etc – and started reading loads of them. The issue was that I read so many, they all started to become samey and I guessed most of the endings. So I stopped reading them, and I don’t think I really picked one back up until I read My Sister, the Serial Killer.
It was refreshing because My Sister, the Serial Killer is unique, and it didn’t feel like any mystery thriller I’d read before.
My Thoughts
Before I even began, the plot of this book intrigued me: it follows Korede, a nurse, who cleans up after her sister Ayoola after she murders her boyfriends, apparently out of self-defence. Korede never turns her sister into the police in fear of what it might do to her family… until Ayoola starts dating a doctor Korede works with. Korede is in love with him, and doesn’t want to see him end up dead…
The book jumps straight into the plot, which is something I love, and I guess is the reason why the whole book is only under 250 pages. It goes right into Korede getting a call from her sister, and going to her house to clean up another one of her victims. At this point we have no idea what has happened or why Korede is being sent to clean up, but we learn more as the story progresses.
You don’t get everything handed to you on a plate; instead, you’re left to work things out and make your own judgements about the characters and their choices. We don’t get any superfluous descriptions; the author only writes about what is absolutely necessary to the story, leaving you with a non-stop, racing story that leaves you wondering what the heck is going to happen and how it is all going to be resolved.
We don’t learn a huge amount about the characters and I would maybe have liked to know more about them, but for this story, it maybe isn’t necessary. For such a short book, we find out just about enough for the story to flow and to draw our own opinions about the characters and to form our own ideas about how the story might end—which, for me, wasn’t how I expected!
Why read this book?
This book is for you if you love…
- Mystery thrillers that leave you wanting more as you try and unravel the plot and figure out who is to blame
- Stories about families with unconventional relationships
- Strong stories that aren’t longer than they need to be, and get the job done in less than 250 pages
- Stories that make you form your own opinions about the characters and their intentions, and doesn’t hand everything to you on a plate
- Stories set in places that aren’t where books are commonly set (USA, UK, etc) – this one is set in Nigeria
TL;DR
Full of suspense, tense moments and unexpected twists, My Sister, the Serial Killer by Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite is a strong mystery thriller packed into just over 200 pages.
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