Book Log 2021 #13: My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

It can be hard to be the older sister when your younger sister is known as the pretty one, and gets all of the attention. It's that much harder when she also has a tendency to kill her boyfriends.

This is the dilemma that Korede, a nurse in Lagos, finds herself in. Once again she has to help her sister, Ayoola, clean up and dispose of the body of her latest victim. And while Korede feels underappreciated for helping her sister, she's accepted that she'll have to keep doing so to protect Ayoola.

But this changes when Tade, a doctor that Korede has unrequited feelings for, meets Ayoola and falls for her. Will Korede stand and allow Tade to be the next person to feel Ayoola's knife, or will she try to break the chain of violence and cover-ups?

The story is told as a dark comedy rather than straightforward crime/horror, which adds an unusual dimension to both the love triangle and the familial relationships. The book also gives plenty of detail about contemporary Lagos, which helps those of us who do not have a firm grasp on what life is like in modern Nigeria. The strength of the book lies in the sisters, who are fully drawn and complex (which I guess they'd have to be given the circumstances). Recommended.