Lockdown Reading
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
This is the writer’s first novel, which was short listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019. She subsequently won thriller book of the year at the British Book awards, seeing off Lee Child and Val McDermid. The title of the book may be off putting to the average reader who is not looking for a blood & gore novel or a violent one. It was actually the working title for the book which somehow stuck.
The writer’s childhood was in Nigeria and the U.K. before she returned to Lagos. The action takes place there.
The main characters are Korede who is the sensible and plain one and her sister Ayoola who is the opposite and has a knack of attracting any man she chooses. Korede is a nurse at the local hospital and her sister is a designer of clothes online when she isn’t spending time manipulating others to amuse herself.
The action opens with these words ‘Ayoola summons me with these words – Korede, I killed him’. What happens next draws Korede into a web of deception which then explores the relationship between the sisters and the mother and father. All is not as it seems on the surface and soon the undercurrent of local customs and misogyny begins to appear.
It does have some amusing moments and in fact, I did not realise until I was deeply engrossed in the novel, that she cleverly draws you into an insightful portrait of a dysfunctional family. I very much enjoyed this snapshot of aspects of life in Lagos, the food and the language. At 223 pages it isn’t a heavy tome, but it has a lot to say. I can’t wait for her next book to appear, but it is the sort of book you want to re-read.
I have been sparing with details of the plot, so it does not spoil the enjoyment of reading the book, but would emphasise that it isn’t a conventional murder mystery.