2019 – “My Sister, the Serial Killer” by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Korede’s sister Ayoola is beautiful and popular and in this book by Oyonkan Braithwaite she is also trouble. Serious trouble. Trouble that Korede has to clear up after. Set in Nigeria, My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaiteis a dark comedy and a book about abuse and loyalty.

Ayoola is beautiful but broken. She handles difficulties with men in one way only and that is to kill them. Korede is a nurse who forgives her sister because she understands the abuse which has affected her and because she believes the stories about what the men were trying to do to Ayoola. But she is starting to tire of her sister’s antics and she finds herself totally conflicted when Ayoola attracts the doctor in the hospital that Korede liked – will this man live ? She pours out her soul and everything that Ayoola has done to a comatose patient who miraculously recovers, although he has secrets of his own, which is yet another problem that Kerede has to resolve.

You start this book thinking that this is a light-hearted and amusing tale, albeit a bit dark. Slowly you come to recognise that this is a book about two broken people and the background that caused their issues. Ayoola has no boundaries and is completely immoral. Korede is racked with guilt about things that happened in the past, is thought of by everyone as plain in comparison with her sister and is prepared to throw away potential happiness of her own for the sake of Ayoola. Their relationship is toxic and their interactions are unusual to say the least.

I enjoyed this book, which is quite short. I thought that the story was interesting and I liked the way that it took most of the book for the reader properly to understand the relationship and its issues. It is quite unlike anything I have read before. Although it was very popular when it was published I am not sure if it will become a modern classic like so many I have read in my 60 Books from 60 Years challenge but I enjoyed it a lot.