My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite #mysistertheserialkiller @ writeratworkng @doubledaybooks @chesapeakepubliclibrary #sisters #murder #psychopath @absltmom

 Welcome to Friday, the work week is ending and now it’s time for the three R’s …rest, relaxation, and reading!

I have just completed reading the very weird but totally mesmerizing book called,

Honestly, this book immediately drew me in, and has been rolling around in my head since its completion. Yes, it deals with two sisters, and yes one of them is a serial killer. However, there is something alluring, something so sinister, and something that draws you through this short book to a conclusion that was totally bizarre, perhaps not understandable, and yet seemed to utterly fit.

Ayoola, the younger sister has a penchant for killing her boyfriends, while big sister Koreed, has a penchant for covering up for her sister and protecting her knowing full well what she is. The ironic part is that other than protecting a murderess, Koreed is a nurse supposedly dedicated to preserving life. Yet, her sister takes precedence in Koreed’s mind and heart and as her sister seems to be heading to more boyfriends’s demises, Koreed stays firmly in her corner.

This was such an interesting character study. One sister is crazy and the other one is not far behind, probably even crazier. The girls, whose father was abusive, seem to have coped with him in their own way, though Ayoola, the beautiful one, seems to be forgiven all her mistakes and is the sister some will “die” to love. Koreed, the ugly sister, stays in the background, the unloved, the unwanted, and yet she is the one who sallies forth always in defense of what most would categorize as the indefensible. Can this be love? The obvious question is how far would you go to protect the one you love? Would you venture into a world of murder to insulate the one you love from being brought to justice? Or would you just let the bodies add up, knowing that you yourself could stop this at any time.

This was a buddy read with Jan. We were fascinated by the way this small book managed to worm its way into our imagination.

and here’s the author:

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 has been freelancing as a writer and editor since. 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.