My Sister the Serial Killer, a review

I ended up picking up My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite via audiobook after hearing so many people sing it’s praises since it was first published in 2018. And besides, death being a main premise in a book? Sign me up!

For some ridiculous reason, I had decided to listen to this audiobook at “normal” speed. That was a mistake. I was bored. I barely cared. And I almost DNF’d the book. But I thought I would give it a shot sped up first and see what I thought of it. Well? I listened to the rest of the book that day and enjoyed it so much more! Not starting with “normal” speeds again for a while 🤣

I will say that this book ended up focusing a lot more on the family drama side of things than I’d expected. It was like a darker version of a British soap opera and that wasn’t what I’d went into the book for. However, it did mean that we got to know the family really well and see the sisterly connection, and I can’t fault that.

I also loved the character development we had through this book (with one notable exception, it kinda works with her character that she doesn’t develop but it was also super frustrating). Our main character goes through quite a lot, both out in the world and in introspection, and it changes a lot of her outlook on her life.

The main character’s love interest also develops, but instead moves towards the negative. I still love a good development, even when it makes the character bad, so I was here for this! I will say a fair few of the background characters were just that. Like slightly blurry people in the background of a TV show who occasionally step into focus, but it’s hard to distinguish between them.

On CAWPILE I rated this one: Character: 7, Atmosphere: 7, Writing: 7, Plot: 7, Intrigue: 7, Logic: 7, and Enjoyment: 6, which gives an average score of 6.86 and a rating of 3.5*

This was an enjoyable read and I’m glad that I didn’t DNF it and sped up the audiobook instead! It’s definitely a fun little one.

Highlight here for trigger warnings: blood, cheating, child abuse, domestic violence, murder, paedophilia, rape (implied), stabbing violence [end].