Title: Dead Weight
Author: Hildur Knútsdóttir
Translated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Publication date: May 26, 2026
Length: 160 pages
Genre: Thriller
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
An Icelandic night may hide secrets and affairs – or even bodies – in this gruesomely cathartic horror thriller from the author of The Night Guest.
Unnur was living a normal, if lonely, life until a black cat showed up at her door.
When she tracks down the cat’s wayward owner, she finds a young woman just as lost and in need of help. Like a gust of cold air in a Reykjavík night, Ásta and her pet slip into Unnur’s life.
It’s unexpected, but welcome. Unnur likes the company, and she begins to rely on Ásta in turn. But like a black cat, trouble has been tailing her new friend, and Unnur is the only one there for Ásta when things take a violent turn.
The two women quickly learn: nothing tests a friendship like blood on your hands.
This new Icelandic thriller opens with a bang, as I shared in a recent First Lines Friday post:
I have thought long and hard about how I would dispose of a dead body. I have carefully weighed options such as digging, sinking, burning, hiding. It’s something I do when I can’t sleep. I used to think that everyone did this, that each person I met had a plan of their own. But the day I casually mentioned mine during lunch at work, a weird and uncomfortable silence settled over the table. So it turns out that most people listen to audio books when they can’t sleep. It’s only me who hides bodies. I find it relaxing.
With an opening like that, it’s clear that at some point in this tense novella, there WILL be a body to deal with. The questions are — whose, and why, and how?
I’ll pause here for a second — I don’t typically share content warnings, but when it comes to abuse, I feel it’s necessary.
Content warning: Domestic/relationship violence, physical and emotional abuse.
Content reassurance: Cats are an important part of the plot… and they are fine! No animal deaths or injury (although they are threatened).
The story is told by Unnar, who is somewhat of an odd duck, and does not necessarily appear to be a reliable narrator. She’s a successful businesswoman who has learned to feign reactions to get what she wants.
I practice the look I’m going to use. Raise my eyes up and to the right. Because I’ve read that people look there when they’re doing creative thinking, but to the left when doing recall.
Meanwhile, she lives alone and conducts a passionate relationship with a married man, whose influencer wife she stalks on Instagram, convinced that he’s being honest when he says that theirs is a loveless marriage and he’s only staying for the sake of the children. Hmm, no married man has ever claimed that before, have they?
Unnar’s predictable life is interrupted when a cat shows up on her doorstep. The cat seems to find a way inside, even when the apartment doors are closed. After a couple of days of visits, Unnar searches Facebook for posts about missing cats, and tracks down the owner, a young woman named Ásta. Ásta is thrilled to be reunited with Io, but has an odd request: Can Unnar keep her for a while? Ásta’s boyfriend really doesn’t like cats, and she doesn’t want to rock the boat. When Unnar comes home again to find that Io has had a kitten, she agrees with Ásta’s proposal that mom and baby kitty will stay until the kitten is old enough to be moved, and they set up a schedule for Ásta to come and visit.
But with each visit, Unnar becomes more and more concerned about Ásta’s well-being. She shows up with bruises, and is clearly scared to upset her boyfriend. When he tracks her to Unnar’s home, violence ensues, and the growing friendship between the two women leads to startling results.
I’d love to be able to say which book (from almost 30 years ago) that this reminded me of… but even to name the book would be to reveal more than I should about the plot! Suffice it to say that things take a turn for the grisly, and Unnar’s detachment and level-headedness become a necessary counterweight to Ásta’s emotions and fragility.
I have mixed feeling about Dead Weight. On the one hand, it’s a highly readable, fast-paced, absorbing story — and given that it’s novella-length, it’s a very quick read. On the other hand… I’m not sure what to make of certain plot elements and characterizations.
Unnar is both incredibly competent and seemingly emotionally stunted. She hints at incidents from her family history, but we never entirely get the full picture. Her romantic relationship shows both her ability to feel and her ability to compartmentalize and shut down the emotions that don’t serve her own narrative; there are clear signs of denial and possibly even more serious mental health concerns that become apparent as she interacts with Ásta.
On a more practical note, Unnar’s narration makes very clear all the ways in which society doesn’t value women’s strength, expects certain types of performance and demeanor, and doesn’t recognize or have sufficient resources when a woman experiences abuse and needs an escape plan. Unnar seems to lack a moral compass, yet even thought she’s practically a stranger to Ásta, she’se the only person in Ásta’s corner when she’s in danger.
I found the ending ambiguous. I’m not sure how to interpret the very final scene. (There are two options — I don’t know which answer I like better, and I’m not sure whether we’re supposed to know or guess).
This book is definitely not a good choice for the squeamish — only read if you can tolerate blood and gore!
Overall, while I still prefer the author’s previous book, The Night Guest, I found Dead Weight an intriguing, all-in-one-sitting read. Check it out for the Icelandic vibe, and if you enjoy ambiguity and unreliable narrators.
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