Sibling rivalry goes to the next level in MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER

With twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat, this novel is a page-turner that explores the complex relationship between siblings and the terrifying consequences of keeping secrets.

Raise your hand if it was your month to choose the book club book!

You can’t see me, but my hand is all the way up. I was so excited when some friends asked if I’d like to join the book club they were starting. I am actually now a part of TWO book clubs. Are you impressed? Well, don’t be. The first one is one of those clubs where we all agree on a book, we all purchase the book (or check it out from the library if you’re cheap like me), then we all commence reading the book. Are you with me so far? It’s pretty standard book club stuff. But it’s at this point that things start to go off the rails. One of us listens to the book on audio and finishes quickly. Another starts the book and then misplaces it somewhere deep in the bowels of her home. A third thinks very diligently about starting the book but ends up getting sidelined by work. And don’t even get me started about trying to find a night where we can all meet to discuss the book that half of us haven’t read. (Don’t judge. About half of all book clubs function this way.) So that’s book club number one.

Book club number two operates with surgical precision.

The host chooses the book, picks the date and time, and comes up with discussion questions. If you can’t make it, your loss. Everyone brings an appetizer and a bottle of wine. One host even came up with a little reading quiz and a prize for the highest scorer. (I’m totally stealing this idea.) Clearly, these ladies have their acts together, so I needed to level up when it was my turn to host. Enter MY SISTER THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite. Is that an awesome title or what?

Told in extremely brief chapters that keep you reading at a break-neck pace, this oddly funny but also tragic novel will suck you in from page one.

The jacket copy reads, “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.”

As the story progresses, the reader wonders who will be next on Ayoola’s list. Are these deaths the result of self-defense as Ayoola claims, or is there something more sinister at work? And what will become of Tade, the doctor whom Korede secretly loves and whom Ayoola openly pursues?

If you decide to swipe this title for YOUR book club, here are a few discussion questions I’m contemplating:

What did you think of the choppy chapter structure and chapter headers?
Does Ayoola’s past mitigate her present choices?
Which character do you identify/sympathize with most?
Which character did you like least?
How did you feel about Muhtar?

I hope my fellow readers in book club number two will love this book as much as I did. Maybe if book club number one ever reconvenes, I’ll suggest this title to the group. At least I’ll already have my discussion questions prepared.