Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

24 reviews

traa's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Blood, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Police brutality

zazzyb's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

first thoughts ----Holy crap this family is messed up. Her sister is a true psycho. 
I really enjoyed this book, I started it years before, gave up and it lived on my bookshelf for ages.
So dec came and I was nowhere near my yearly target so manic short book reading it was. I will say this book felt very short, I would have liked it to have been longer and more detailed.

Braithwaite really manages to draw you into her world, you want to know who the next victim will be, will Korede ever get her happy ever after. Its full of slight twists and you really do feel for this woman who puts her family first without any thought to her happiness. 

Great read and a really interesting concept, wish it was longer and more in-depth however

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Minor: Police brutality

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Police brutality and Medical content

amberrenfrey's review

challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, and Classism

Minor: Drug abuse, Sexism, and Police brutality

karbzzz's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Murder

woweewhoa's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Pretty good book! The beginning fourth is a bit slow after the beginning incident, but as soon as the ball starts actually rolling, it picks up! Considering this is a pretty short read, the first fourth being kinda a slog doesn't ruin it entirely, since when it picks up it Picks Up! 
The shortness also helps it; it gets in, tells it's story, and gets out. A great bite sized thriller to enjoy, especially since there's a good audiobook version of it!
An enjoyable read about the effects of trauma on two sisters who have never truly had to deal with their trauma and being actively unable to deal with it properly because... well, the world is what it is. Doesn't help that one of them also is a serial killer. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Police brutality

flamingtashhh's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Quick! Really flew by. An easy read in terms of difficulty, but could be challenging emotionally. I almost wish I’d seen more of the characters, but the plot may have outpaced them; the static characters worked well for the plot. I’m absolutely not a fan of crime novels, but this one was pretty good for the genre. I knocked a star because I typically value character development more, and another one because it didn’t challenge me really. But the framing of the serial killing through childhood violence was interesting and made the novel feel less voyeuristic than a typical crime novel, so that bought back another 3/4 star for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Police brutality

7bookrats's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

My Sister, The Serial Killer is a fast paced and hard to put down read. It strikes a balance of a light-hearted slice of life and an emotional tale about Korede's relationships, loyalties, experiences and past. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Gore and Police brutality

Minor: Addiction and Adult/minor relationship

caprivoyant's review against another edition

challenging dark

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

3.0

Book review in a face: 😐

Lemme 'splain. You know how sometimes you watch TV shows that are actually kind of horrible but you love them at the same time? That's how I felt at the beginning of this book. I think I actually told my friend: "this is an absolute s-h-i-t show, and I love it." 😅

BUT! Then that started to tank with some ⚠️ CW ⚠️ child abuse that hit a little too close to home for me.

In the end, it was a wash for me. Honestly, I don't think I was prepared for it. I didn't look up content warnings before I started reading and that was a dumb move on my part.

If you've been eyeing this book for yourself, maybe this'll help to tell if it's your kind of book or not:

👍🏻 This book might be for you if:

•  you kinda love troubled/flawed characters
•  you're into character studies
•  you're ok with throwing your own moral compass out the door for a bit
  (note: normally, I'm ok with this but this book took it a little too far imho)
• you're good at reading between the lines at thoughts/feelings/memories that a MC won't admit even to herself
•  you can read about some horrible things without feeling the horrible things
  (this is where I went wrong)

👎🏻 This book might NOT be for you if:

•  you want to feel like you can relate to the main characters
  (unless you're a serial killer...??)
•  you're in the mood for a thriller
  (this might be marked as a thriller, but I'm not convinced)
• reading about a serial killer and her enabler is going to be hard for you
• you are healing from childhood abuse and/or are in a grief space for a loved one — especially if that person was killed

I hope this helps. I definitely read this book at the wrong time. I also assumed it would be more of a thriller, so my expectations for this one were just OFF from the get-go.


⚠️ PS - I don't even really have any idea where to start with content warnings with this one. There are so many. Child abuse/pedophilia were the ones that really got me, personally, but there's: infidelity, gaslighting, domestic abuse, murder (duh), police crappiness, and so many more things?! I'll put these in the CW section, but please know I didn't take extensive notes, so I might be remembering the intensity of these incorrectly. 😬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

sarahaf712's review against another edition

dark 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

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Content warnings: colourism; coma