I had been looking forward to reading My Sister, The Serial Killer for months. The book was receiving great reviews and getting shortlisted for prizes, but even without this, the premise has such a great hook. Two sisters, one with a habit for bumping off her boyfriends, the other great at cleaning up crime scenes. But what happens when they end up liking the same guy??
I returned from Bertram’s Christmas Conference with a paperback copy and couldn’t wait to get started. A lot of comments I had heard were about how funny the book is. I found it witty, for sure, and you can tell from the title you are dealing with dark humour, but it wasn’t this that was what made it so good for me.
Personally, it is the economy of the writing that is outstanding. This book is only 226 pages when most are tipping 300+. Within those pages are very short concise chapters – few stray over four or five pages in length. Within these short, sharp instalments is well-developed characters. The sisters take centre stage and their relationship is written brilliantly. I found Ayoola totally exasperating at times, in a way that only a sister can be. That’s how I knew Oyinkan’s writing was such good quality – she has done so much with so little.
Oyinkan is Nigerian and the narrative is set in Lagos, so this book is a great choice for someone looking to read more widely from other cultures. It is a quick read and thoroughly entertaining.