Title: Dead Weight
Author: Hildur Knútsdóttir
Translator: Mary Robinette Kowal
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Novella
Format: Audiobook
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4★)
Release Date: January 23, 2025
Synopsis
Unnur lives a quiet and fairly ordinary life until a black cat suddenly appears at her door. After eventually reuniting the cat with its owner, Ásta, Unnur reluctantly agrees to temporarily care for the animal and her kittens while Ásta deals with personal issues.
As the two women slowly develop an unlikely friendship, things initially seem relatively calm.
Until Ásta’s boyfriend enters the picture.
And from there, the story spirals into something much darker.
My Thoughts
I received this audiobook as a widget from Macmillan Audio, and honestly… for such a short novella, this book was surprisingly brutal.
The setup itself starts off almost quietly strange. A random black cat appears at Unnur’s door, keeps returning no matter what, and eventually gives birth in her bed. Through the cat, Unnur slowly becomes involved in Ásta’s life too, and the two women begin forming an unexpected friendship.
At first, everything feels relatively normal, maybe a little lonely and odd, but still grounded.
And then Ásta’s boyfriend enters the story.
From that point onward, things escalate very quickly.
I won’t spoil anything specific, but this novella becomes much darker and more intense than I initially expected. Despite being so short, it manages to build tension extremely well and delivers several moments that genuinely made me sit there like:
“Oh. OH. We’re doing THIS now.”
And… while we probably shouldn’t celebrate violence, there was definitely THAT moment where I found myself fully cheering because it genuinely felt like justice being served.
I also ended up appreciating Unnur’s character arc quite a lot. I wasn’t fully connected to her at the beginning and sometimes found her a little frustrating, but by the end she absolutely redeemed herself, in a very satisfying way.
The audiobook itself also worked incredibly well for this type of story. I started listening around 5am, which somehow ended up being the perfect unsettling hour for this weird, tense atmosphere.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Dead Weight was a short but very effective horror thriller with sharp pacing, dark turns, and a surprisingly satisfying payoff.
If you enjoy morally messy thrillers, unsettling atmospheres, female rage, and novellas that escalate fast, this one is definitely worth checking out.
ARC Disclaimer
Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the audiobook widget. All opinions are my own.
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