My Sister, the Serial Killer. Oyinkan Braithwaite. 2018. Doubleday. 240 pages. [Source: public library.] Older siblings are often like surrogate parents to their younger brothers and sisters. They leverage their wisdom and experience to help the younger ones navigate life. Or get away with murder. In My Sister, the Serial Killer, Korede has the misfortune of being the only person her younger sister Ayoola calls when one of her boyfriends has the misfortune of encountering her late father’s prized knife. I suppose the third time is a charm, because that’s what turned her into the textbook serial killer. Korede, with her meticulous attention to detail, has proven herself a worthy accomplice, shielding Ayoola from the consequences of her actions. Ayoola is, by all accounts, the more beautiful and beguiling sister. I read her as flighty and self-centered, and prone to ignoring the perceptions about her behavior, especially as she “mourns” her missing boyfriend. Ayoola, for all her naivete, is also cunning. She uses her charisma to endear herself to people, but her ability to manipulate everyone around her to protect her demonstrates that she’s not the beautiful fool she seems. I found myself very early on not trusting her, straddling a very thin line…

Fire in the Firefly. Scott Gardiner. 2016. 313 pages. TAP books. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] I have mixed feelings about this book. It’s a satire, which is generally a departure from what I read. So while I enjoyed the story itself, the approach missed the mark for me. Julius Roebuck is a very self-assured man, and prides himself in his ability to read and understand women. The entire book follows him as he tries to balance his precarious relationships with the women in his life – his wife Anne, her ovulation-clocking business partner Yasmin, and his mistress, Lily. Insert a maybe-botched vasectomy and you’ve got the makings of an suspenseful story that reminds me more of slapstick humor than anything else.