Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

28 reviews

tracy89's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Death of parent, and Murder

giasbookhaven's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Set in the contemporary present day of Lagos, My Sister, The Serial Killer delivers a gritty,  realistic account of Korede and her younger sister, Ayoola, lives. Their complicated relationship with men began with their misogynistic, abusive and serial cheater father.

In control, meticulous, detail oriented Korede has always looked out for her sister. Just because they're both adults, this is something that will never change. Even if she calls her to tell her she's killed her boyfriend--again.

Korede has accepted the past excuses from Ayoola about the men being abusive towards her and she acted out of fear. But following the third victim, the seeds of doubts begin to take root in Korede's mind. Knowing how everyone dotes on her younger sister for her beauty, charm and look of innocence Korede is all at one immune and immune to the affects that Ayoola has on her. The pull to protect her while being ashamed, doubtful and untrusting of her younger sister curve her actions and decisions everyday.

While I believe Ayoola's character is a narcissist, sociopath and manipulative, readers will discover where these characteristics originate as the story progresses and the source may be a shock. While I don't excuse or condone Ayoola's actions, the depictions and actions of all the male characters in this book were overbearing, obsessed with fast, beautiful girls, belittling dismissive and creepy to all the female characters. Which left me at a cross roads as Ayoola's view and opinion on men, especially those who were drawn to her, seemed to bring validity her actions on a subconscious level.

Even when the doctor Korede was in love with began to show interest in her, it was as if Ayoola indulging in the attention was her way of proving to her sister that he wasn't the knight in shinning armor she believed him to be. Likewise, Ayoola enjoyed the freedom of being able to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. As this was a consequential result of no one, not even Korede, making her face the consequences of her actions.

It started with the death of their father; Ayoola seemed to develop a taste for killing and killing men who were interested in her until she grew tired of them and wanted them gone, but in a real way. Even if Korede were to have outed Ayoola, I felt that they were too use to/connected with each other for it to have made a difference at that point. Because even with all her doubts, worries and suspicions, Korede remained quiet in the end.

Besides the element of blood and death in this book, readers please check the TWs as the text references, minor/adult relationship, assault, domestic abuse, child abuse, blood and infidelity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

thebookishwizard's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

An amazing read, I the writing alone earns it's 5.0 star rating. The main character is morbidly relatable and makes one reflect on what lengths one would go for their family. I have a few gripes with parts of the ending but not enough to bring down the score, truly an exquisite read that I can not recommend more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury

coolfoolmoon's review against another edition

sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

No matter how much I hate the characters I always love when sisters sister. When sisters are sistering, I am sat. You have my full attention. I don't care if they're good or evil. I love them. Makes me wish I wasn't an only child, even if she was a serial killer! (I'm kidding but not really. Kinda.) Also based off the title alone I thought the book was gonna be set in New York lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Mental illness, Misogyny, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Police brutality, and Car accident

kimveach's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this contemporary story. It's not so much a mystery or thriller as a book about relationships and family.  It was excellent on audio with the narrator's lovely accent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mal214's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Police brutality, and Classism

zulmiro's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Racism, Police brutality, and Stalking

veronica214's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Korede's sister is officially a serial killer. And? Yeah, there wasn't much to this story. Not much character development and the ending wasn't great. 

However, the story is set in Lagos so the reader definitely gets a feel for the culture. Everything from gender roles, food, socio-economics, government corruption, death customs, etc. I did enjoy this aspect of the novel.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Gaslighting

Minor: Police brutality

erinkellyreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 A tense, quick thriller that will have you frustrated and engaged from page one. I loved that it was told in short vignettes; it kept the pacing up as well as gave you nuggets of information one at a time. I was frustrated by the characters, but it also all made sense. Definitely a must read! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Fire/Fire injury

juan_adhd_reading's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book a lot! Such a quick read, and the chapters were so very short, but still managed to convey a compelling story. This story is in part a mystery-thriller, but more so is a story about family and relationships.

This story shows just how un breakable the bond between sisters is, and the length they will go to protect each other.

I don’t know how to talk about the characters in a way that won’t make the story off putting, because the reality is that there are no good characters here. Ayoola is a serial killer, after all, and Korede enables her. I think a lot could be said about how their father’s abuse plays into how they came to be like this, and especially why Korede goes to such great lengths to protect Ayoola. I did feel bad for Korede all throughout the book, because I really felt how trapped she is in this toxic relationship; how her bond with her sister might be too strong for her own good. 

Dr. Tade might have been just another sympathetic victim of Ayoola, but in my opinion he was kind of an ass. (Long rant incoming.)

Setting aside the fact that he never appreciated all that Korede did for him, and that he fell for Ayoola just because she’s pretty, he also blamed Korede for anything that Ayoola did. “Ayoola cheated on me because you’re not a good sister”, “Ayoola only seeks other men because you don’t love her enough”, “Ayoola would never hurt anyone! Why do you always villainize her!”, “You’re just jealous of Ayoola because you don’t have a man to love”… Korede told him very clearly that Ayoola would hurt him, she did all she could to warn him and make him break up the engagement (even if Ayoola wasn’t a killer, she knows she didn’t love him and wouldn’t want to marry him). But he just ignored his many years of friendship with Korede to still be with Ayoola, and he got what he got. Did he deserve all that? Probably not, but he had the chance to think and still chose to be horny instead 🫤.

Anyway, despite all that I really enjoyed reading this book, and would definitely recommend it. Especially if you’re in a reading slump.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Police brutality, and Gaslighting