Like the Irving Berlin song said, "Never were their such devoted sisters."
"My Sister, The Serial Killer," is not camp, but it is very tongue in cheek, with plenty of resemblances to the downside of "Cinderella," with just a bit of 'Baby Jane' thrown in.
Ayoola and Korede are unmarried, and live with their mother, in a section of Lagos, in Nigeria. Korede, older and less pretty, is the practical sister; she is the nurse. Ayoola is younger, beautiful, and more favored by her mother. Her career is from home--a fashion design website. She is talented at this, but what she is more talented with is dispatching boyfriends when she is tired of them, and they vanish, without a trace.
That is because she is a serial killer. The father, dead, and out of the picture, was an abusive bastard, when alive, which helps to explain Ayoola.
But something is wrong with Korede, as well, Propelled by a fierce sense of loyalty, at every turn, instilled by her mother, she is obligated to protect her younger sister at all times. And so when a killing occurs, Korede helps Ayoola cover it up.
Told tongue-in-cheek, the reader is left wondering. The sisters will not be caught soon, but one day, they will be. What would happen then? Dollars to donuts, Ayoola throws sister under the bus. Somehow, Korede will end up going to prison, not Ayoola.
That was the impression left on me by this fast paced, entertaining, in an almost comic way, novel.
The last words must go to Irving Berlin, "Lord, help the Mister/Who comes between me and my Sister!/And Lord, help the Sister/Who comes between me and my MAN!"
This novel is a droll illustration of that very idea.
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