With a title like this how could I not pick up this book?Update: I should have mentioned that the serial killer part is really peripheral to the family dynamics of the story and I especially enjoyed the bits where you get a look at Nigerian family life. The book was originally published as an ebook in Nigeria with the title Thicker Than Water andIn some respects I wish they had kept that title. Having "serial killer" in the title might put off people who would otherwise enjoy the book but think it the typical serial killer stalky slashy stuff.
Korede is nurse in a hospital in Lagos, Nigeria. She is as practical and efficient as her younger sister, Ayoola, a master at social media, is flighty. Ayoola is also perfect in every one's eyes and so impossibly beautiful that everyone she meets is immediately smitten and captivated by her. She is also likely a sociopath whose last three boyfriends have ended up dead. Three, and they label you a serial killer Korede whispers to a comatose patient, Muhtar, in whom she confides her fears and frustrations believing he can't hear her. Ayoola doesn't comprehend that she might have done something bad and so completely believes her own lies that whatever she says is accepted. And Korede, the protective older sister and expert at cleaning, has ti cover up the murders. She says about Ayoola:
Ayoola lives in a world where things must always go her way. It's a law as certain as the law of gravity.
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K: Tade . . . what do you like about my sister?Will Korede's impulse to protect her sister collapse under the stress of a police investigation into the latest murder and losing her possible love to her largely indifferent sister?
T: Everything.
K: But if you had to be specific?
T: Well . . . she is really special.
K: Okay . . . but what makes her special?
T: She is just so . . . I mean she is beautiful and perfect.
My Sister the Serial Killer is a fun read told in first person from the viewpoint of a very harried Korede who is trying to balance her work, love life [nonexistent], and trying to keep her sister from doing something stupid that will draw the attention of the authorities. Along the way Korede relates events from their childhood which, now that I think of it, might account for Ayala's homicidal tendencies.
What emerges is a sensitive , sometimes dark, portrayal of a woman shouldering an immense burden who has bitterness at being overshadowed by her younger sister but still willing to do what has to be done to keep the sister safe, something she has done all their lives.
The author is Nigerian and lives in Lagos. I would say that the book has a very nice local flavor. A few Yoruba words and phrases are in the text but nothing that Google couldn't handle or would pull the reader out of the story. The chapters are short and the writing pulls you along briskly so I finished it in a few hours.
The story stands alone but it would be interesting to see a sequel. There is certainly room for one.
I don't usually go for the serial killer plot, Mack. But it sounds as though there's more to this than just the killings. I get a sense of the place as well as of the family dynamics, and that's interesting. I'm glad you were drawn in.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Margot. The serial killer part is really peripheral to the family dynamics. I really enjoyed the bits where you got a look at Nigerian family life. As I said elsewhere, I wish they had kept the first title, Thicker Than Water, because having serial killer in the title might put off people who would otherwise enjoy the book.
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