My Sister, the Serial Killer

Black History Month

Staff recommendations, guest essays, and curated reading lists.

Blood is thicker than bleach, and you can find both in abundance in this short and addictive novel about two sisters who have to cover up some very dark secrets. The dynamic between Ayoola, a compelling and murderous golden child, and her sister Korede, the one roped into cleaning up the dirty work, is strained with tension and adoration that play a wicked game of tug-of-war so close it could seemingly tear the book right in half. Recommended By Brianna B., Powells.com

Korede is her sister's keeper. Managing beautiful, impulsive Ayoola would try anyone's patience, but recently she's started ending her relationships in a more permanent manner — and it's up to dutiful Korede to dispose of the bodies. Is there any emotion as subtly suggestive of violence as jealousy? It's a closely held hatred turned inward and its sufferers burn and seethe with it. Korede certainly does, as time and again she is overshadowed by her beloved sister. But, as the brilliant ones too often forget, a smart person can do a lot in the shadows. Smart, cutting (pun intended), and funnier that it has any right to be, My Sister, the Serial Killer is battery acid disguised as a cocktail! Recommended By Lauren P., Powells.com

When Ayoola is in trouble, she knows she can count on her sister, Korede — no matter what. Ayoola is all over the place — wreaking havoc wherever she goes, while Korede is busily keeping home, work, and life together, and desperately trying to clean up Ayoola's mess. Braithwaite pens a riveting tension-filled story of two sisters and the murders between them. Smartly plotted, with a darkly humorous style, My Sister, the Serial Killer is a unique and surprising examination of whether or not blood really is thicker than water. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com

“Feverishly hot” — Paula Hawkins

“The wittiest and most fun murder party you’ve ever been invited to.” — Marie Claire

A short, darkly funny hand grenade of a novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends.

“Femi makes three, you know. Three and they label you a serial killer.”

Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola’s third boyfriend in a row is dead.

Korede’s practicality is the sisters’ saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her “missing” boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she’s exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she’s willing to go to protect her.

Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s deliciously deadly debut is as fun as it is frightening.

“A taut, rapidly paced thriller that pleasurably subverts serial killer and sisterhood tropes for a guaranteed fun afternoon.” Huffington Post

“This riveting, brutally hilarious, ultra-dark novel is an explosive debut by Oyinkan Braithwaite, and heralds an exciting new literary voice....Delicious.” Nylon

“You can’t help flying through the pages." Buzzfeed

“Braithwaite’s blazing debut is as sharp as a knife…bitingly funny and brilliantly executed, with not a single word out of place.” Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Pulpy, peppery and sinister, served up in a comic deadpan...This scorpion-tailed little thriller leaves a response, and a sting, you will remember."--NEW YORK TIMES

"The wittiest and most fun murder party you've ever been invited to."--MARIE CLAIRE

WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR MYSTERY/THRILLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 WOMEN'S PRIZE

A short, darkly funny, hand grenade of a novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends

"Femi makes three, you know. Three and they label you a serial killer."

Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead.

Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.

Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her.

Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite's deliciously deadly debut is as fun as it is frightening.

Oyinkan Braithwaite is a graduate of Creative Writing and Law from Kingston University. Following her degree, she worked as an assistant editor at Kachifo, a Nigerian publishing house, and as a production manager at Ajapaworld, a children’s educational and entertainment company. She now works as a freelance writer and editor. In 2014, she was shortlisted as a Top Ten spoken word artist in the Eko Poetry Slam, and in 2016 she was a finalist for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

I do not write to music. I find music to be terribly distracting… I’ll end up singing at the top of my lungs or dancing; so I came up with this playlist after the fact. I think I took this task a little too seriously, but it was definitely worth it! I have a My Sister, the Serial Killer playlist/soundtrack on my phone now and I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do...

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