November Book of the Month: My Sister the Serial Killer

Ayoola is the merriest murderer you ever did see. Young and beautiful, the favorite child, she’s on the phone to her older sister when My Sister, The Serial Killer opens, asking her to come quick. She’s just killed her boyfriend and needs help clearing the scene. It’s not the first time one of Ayoola’s boyfriends has met the business end of her blade, either. Older sister Korede, plain and overlooked, has drawn on her nursing training to clean up after two other hapless beaux. Who better to make blood disappear? And so far, Korede’s objections have been centered on classification ("Femi makes three, you know. Three and they label you a serial killer") rather than say, morality. As she says of her sister: “She needs me more than I need untainted hands.” But when the object of Korede’s desire, a doctor at the Lagos hospital where she works, becomes trapped in Ayoola’s web, fraternal loyalty collides with sibling rivalry, and one of these women is deadly with a knife. Darkly comic is a powerful understatement here; this short debut packs a brutal punch, crackling with glee and sly humor. Pages never turned so fast. —Vannessa Cronin