Publisher: Doubleday Books
Date of publication: November 2018
Satire meets slasher in this 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.
A kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where Korede works, is the bright spot in her life. She dreams of the day when he will realize they're perfect for each other. But one day Ayoola shows up to the hospital uninvited and he takes notice. When he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and what she will do about it.
Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite has written a deliciously deadly debut that's as fun as it is frightening.
I had to think about this one for a while after finishing it. My Sister, The Serial Killer is a short book involving Korede, a woman who lives in Lagos, Nigeria. She is a nurse and the older sister of Ayoola. Ayoola has a bad habit of killing her boyfriends in "self-defense". Korede has a bad habit of helping her cover it up. The book has received rave reviews, so I know I am in the minority when I say I didn't really care for this book. From the synopsis, I was expecting a dark slasher/comedy. But I found nothing funny, satirical or remotely frightening about the book.
The story is told in very short chapters through Korede's eyes. Through some flashbacks, we get an idea of how Ayoola ended up the way she did. However, that still didn't excuse any of it. I didn't particularly like any of the characters. I know it's supposed to be a story about sisters and how far you would go to protect your younger siblings. But, I really didn't agree with anything Korede did. What Ayoola needed was intense therapy. I wanted to root for Korede, but I just couldn't get behind any of her choices. I'm not spoiling anything by saying any of this because there are no surprises in this book, The ending was less than satisfying because there was no closer. I guess in the end, it just wasn't the book for me.
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