''My Sister, the Serial Killer'' is a 2018 thriller novel by Nigerian writer Oyinkan Braithwaite. Braithwaite's debut novel, it was originally published in Nigeria as an e-book entitled ''Thicker Than Water'' in 2017, before being released in the United States by Doubleday Books on November 20, 2018.

Plot

Lagos Lagos ( Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 f ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

, Korede is a nurse with a close relationship with her younger sister, Ayoola. Ayoola is the more beautiful, favored sister, and possibly

sociopathic Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been u ...

. For the third time in a row, Ayoola has stabbed her boyfriend to death, supposedly in self-defense. Like the previous times, Korede helps dispose of the body and clean away the evidence. Her practicality and concern keep Ayoola from acting suspiciously about her “missing” boyfriend, such as by posting to social media when she should be mourning. Korede feels unappreciated as she constantly dreads that they will be caught and that Ayoola will kill again, confiding in none but a comatose patient in the hospital she works at. She is in love with Tade, a kind, handsome doctor who does not notice her affection. However, upon meeting Ayoola, he is immediately enamored with her and they begin dating. Korede fears that Tade will be Ayoola's next victim and must reckon with what she is willing to do for her sister.

Acknowledgements

In her acknowledgements, Braithwaite thanks

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (born 29 January 1988) is a Nigerian writer. Her 2017 debut novel, ''Stay With Me'', won the 9mobile Prize for Literature and the Prix Les Afriques. She was awarded The Future Awards Africa Prize for Arts and Culture in ...

for adding the accents to the

Yoruba language Yoruba (, ; Yor. '; Ajami: ) is a language spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba speakers is roughly 50 million, plus about 2 million second-language ...

in the book.

Reception

''My Sister, the Serial Killer'' was described by ''Deadline'' as a "darkly comedic story, buzzed-about in publishing circles." The novel won the 2019

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ...

for Best Mystery/Thriller, the 2019 Amazon Publishing Reader’s Award for Best Debut Novel, the 2019 Anthony Award for Best First Novel, and the 2020

British Book Award The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the National ...

for Crime & Thriller Book of the Year. The novel was longlisted for the

2019 Booker Prize The 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction was announced on 14 October 2019. The Booker longlist of 13 books was announced on 23 July, and was narrowed down to a shortlist of six on 3 September. The Prize was awarded jointly to Margaret Atwood for ''The Te ...

and was the second-highest best-selling title on the list as of July 2019, with 13,052 units sold according to

Nielsen BookScan BookScan is a data provider for the book publishing industry that compiles point of sale data for book sales, owned by The NPD Group in the United States and the Nielsen Company in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Sout ...

. ''My Sister, the Serial Killer'' has been praised by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,'' ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

,'' ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on w ...

'' and authors

and Edgar Cantero. In 2018, the novel was considered for a movie adaptation by the producers of ''

Baby Driver ''Baby Driver'' is a 2017 action film written and directed by Edgar Wright. It stars Ansel Elgort as a getaway driver seeking freedom from a life of crime with his girlfriend Debora ( Lily James). Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Eiza González, ...

''.

References

{{Reflist 2018 debut novels 2018 Nigerian novels Nigerian English-language novels Novels about serial killers Novels about social media Novels set in Lagos Nigerian speculative fiction novels Fiction set in the 2010s Doubleday (publisher) books