My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Review by Megan McLoud)

4/5 Stars

By reading the title, I didn’t know if I should expect a true crime story or a satire on sisterly relationships. Turns out it’s a mixture of both.

When the boyfriends of the beautiful and reckless Ayoola keep turning up dead, her pragmatic and plain sister, Korede, helps clean up the crime scenes and dispose of the bodies. The book hits its stride when Ayoola begins dating Korede’s coworker (and the guy she’s been in love with for a long time) and Korede tries to warn him of Ayoola’s dangerous side.

This book is written in very short chapters alternating between the past and present, keeping me enthralled in the story as I read about the previous murders and trying to guess how the story would end. This story had me hating how everyone fawned all over Ayoola and ignored Korede until one chapter changed it all and I loved the fierce loyalty shown between the two sisters.

With the story set in Nigeria, it showed how life in another part of the world can be different but the complexity of a familiar bond is the same regardless of circumstances.

Between the mother’s annoying reminders that time is ticking on marriage, Tate only seeing a beautiful face while ignoring all other qualities, and the sister’s obvious mistakes, every character is flawed yet this is reflective of today’s society.

Overall, I thought this book was a fun, campy read that I wish was longer – I want to know what happens with number 5!