My Sister, the Serial Killer

LoveReading Says

Only the guilty go to jail.

Well, the title makes it very clear that this isn’t going to be a cosy Christie-esque mystery, but it doesn’t even begin to hint at what’s in store for the reader from this morbidly comic tale of brutal murder and sibling rivalry. Korede and Ayoola are sisters living in Lagos; one of them is forced to spend time cleaning up crime scenes thanks to her sister’s irritating habit of offing all her boyfriends. Is Korede protecting her sister, or enabling her? It’s an odd arrangement, but one that works well enough until the murderous Ayoola starts to get involved with Tade – the young man that Korede is secretly in love with. 

Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

Despite the…problematic situation, they remain sisters-in-arms, codependent in a city where life is never easy for young women, even if one of them happens to be a killer. Korede does not want her sister to get caught and Ayoola, while frostier than her sister, remains oddly engaging. How can you not like a serial killer who dances around her bedroom to Whitney Houston?

This is in no sense a conventional murder mystery and not simply because we never really know why the murders are taking place. Braithwaite spares the reader any grisly details, but is not afraid to throw in jokes and even a spot of slapstick comedy when it suits her purposes. It’s a book unlike any I’ve read before or since, because just as Korede knows how to get rid of bloodstains, Braithwaite knows that laughter is the perfect way to soften a dark tale about twisted family loyalty and misogyny.

Guets Editor, Mark Billingham

***

“Big sisters look after little sisters,” declares the mother of the two sisters at the centre of this fiercely enthralling novel and that’s taken to the extreme when big sister Korede helps little sister Ayoola dispose the body of the boyfriend she’s murdered. And not for the first time either. Femi is the third boyfriend to be killed by beautiful, untouchable Ayoola, and Korede can’t not come to her aid. “I am the older sister – I am responsible for Ayoola. That’s how it has always been. Ayoola would break a glass, and I would receive the blame for giving her the drink”.

The writing is razor sharp, courtesy of Korede’s wry narration. She’s a mistress of observation and insight, all-seeing, all-knowing and - so it seems – all-loyal to her self-serving little sister. Ablaze with dark humour and strident originality, this wickedly explosive debut heralds the arrival of a smart new voice in contemporary fiction.

Head to our 'Black Lit Matters' list to find more must-read novels by black writers.

Joanne Owen

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