Book Review: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

My Sister, the Serial Killer
Oyinkan Braithwaite
Anchor Books, July 2019
ISBN 978-0-525-56420-1
Trade Paperback

I thought the title of this book was both strange and amusing. I ignored it for a while until I began to notice it was getting quite a lot of attention, along with positive reviews.  So I took the plunge!  And I’m glad I did…

Korede, the protagonist, has a younger sister Ayoola who is the family beauty and the favourite daughter. She’s also a sociopath who at the start of the novel has just stabbed and killed her third and latest boyfriend. She calls Korede in a panic explaining she had no choice but to kill him and begs her sister to help her take care of this problem. Unable to deny her sister anything, Korede, a nurse, cleans the scene and removes and disposes of the body.

At the hospital where Korede works she has fallen in love with one of the Doctors and hopes one day he will feel the same about her.  But those dreams are shattered when, after meeting Ayoola he asks Korede for Ayoola’s phone number.  Her efforts to keep the two of them apart fail and soon Korede can only watch as the man she loves and her sister start dating.

The book is a fast read, with short snappy chapters that kept me turning the pages.  I felt sorry for Korede trapped in a situation she has little control of, but not for a minute did I think she would go to the police and turn in her sister.  Her love for Ayoola is strong, but so is her growing anxiety, and as the  tension intensifies Korede faces some difficult decisions…..

This is a fast and very enjoyable read…  Find out for yourself just how it ends!!!!

It’s a fun way to spend a snowy afternoon!!!

Reviewed by guest reviewer Moyra Tarling, December 2019.