Book review: My Sister, the Serial Killer

This book was so much fun. While the title might point to a more sinister book, My Sister, the Serial Killer is surprisingly funny and light, with a warm ending.

It is the story of two sisters – the young and beautiful Ayoola who is irresistible to men, despite the bad endings of her previous boyfriends, and Korede, the more serious older sister who helps Ayoola clean up the messes she finds herself in … including murder.

While Korede wants to protect her sister, her loyalties are tested when a doctor where she works, and on whom she has a secret crush, becomes besotted by Ayoola.

I love the descriptions of Ayoola, and her very modern obsession with social media, with the frivolity contrasting with the deaths peppered through the story. Ayoola is vain, insouciant, and oblivious to her sister’s frustration.

Despite the lightness of the story, author Oyinkan Braithwaite also reflects on the lies that bind, and the complexity of sisterly love. It also offers commentary on the shallowness of 21st Century relationships, and the omnipresence of smart phones.

This would be a fantastic holiday book – very easy to read, funny and enjoyable.

My Sister, the Serial Killer is available at Booktopia (Australia) and The Book Depository (the US and UK).