I started this book because my friend posted that she was starting it and I fancied a little buddy read! This took me all of 4 days to finish and after having it on my bookshelf for so long I wish I had picked it up sooner knowing it wouldn't have taken any time at all to crack on with it.
The clue is in the title, Korede's sister Ayoola has killed her boyfriend and has called upon Korede to help her clean up the situation. The story follows Korede as she comes to terms with seeing this dead man and dealing with her sisters strange behaviour following the incident. And the fact that his has happened before with a similar story of self defense. Then Ayoola gains the attention Korede's crush, a smart and handsome Doctor at the hospital Korede works. Korede is now stuck between her crush and what she should do about her murderous sister. She only has a man in a coma at the hospital to talk to and lets face it, he isn't providing much advice.
First off the chapter format and therefore the writing style are very different. Some chapters are half a page, some maybe 3-5 pages but nothing much longer than this. Because of this the wording is very to the point. It provides enough description to know what is happening but not enough to determine time frames or much background to some characters. As much as I enjoyed the short chapters, and it definitely added to the ability of being able to read the book so quickly (easily some people could read this in one sitting) I found it did effect the level of information we received. It was more like short bursts of information rather than a story told from start to finish, if this makes any sense. I guess it was more like random entries into a journal rather than a novel.
While Braithwaite introduced us to some interesting characters in the sisters and the people around them I wish we learnt more about them all. We find out an almost 2D level of everyone, with only slightly more about the sisters. We understand a bit of their past but I also feel it doesn't go into as much detail as I would have liked. I am guessing this is all exactly how the author wants to put the story across by maybe hiding some more details and giving us the basics to get through, but I am not sure I 100% enjoyed this style myself.
I did follow the story wanting to know what happened in the end but I felt it stayed on the same level throughout and I myself prefer books with more depth. I like to be so fully immersed in a story that I forget about my phone, about the time, have I eaten?!! And also become so invested in the characters it feels like I know them. I debated over whether to give this 2 or 3 stars. I almost never rate anything 1 or 2. In the end I settled on 3 as the short chapters kept me reading on and I hadn't disliked it enough to be so harsh.
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Pages - 226
Goodreads Rating - ⭐⭐⭐
