Dead Weight

Hildur Knútsdóttir
Translated by Mary Robinette Kowal
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Dead Weight

Hildur Knútsdóttir
Translated by Mary Robinette Kowal
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Overview

160 PAGESENGLISH

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“Mesmerizing and brutal—I couldn’t put this down. Dead Weight has everything I’ve come to love about Knútsdóttir’s style: it’s eerie, captivating, and oh, so satisfying.” —Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

“[An] impressively subtle and slow-burning psychological chiller from Knútsdóttir... Anyone looking for character-driven horror with a very sharp edge will be thrilled.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Utterly captivating. Dead Weight had me by the throat from the first page to the last. I cannot recommend it enough!” —Katee Robert, New York Times bestselling author

“A gut-punch of a story as stark, brutal, and brooding as a lava field with a burning heart of female friendship and tenacity.” —Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author

“Knútsdóttir creates a tale thick with tension...For fans of the grimmest stories that compel readers to root for their protagonists even as they make violently shocking choices, such as Out by Natsuo Kirino and My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.” —Library Journal

“An unflinching tale of friendship and sacrifice—and the terrible things women sometimes have to do in order to survive. With its sharp, elegant prose, Dead Weight is as hopeful as it is haunting. I inhaled it in a single, feverish sitting.” —Monika Kim, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Eyes Are the Best Part

“This gritty women-helping-women tale lands like a blow to the head. A tautly written, satisfying read from the author of The Night Guest.” —Booklist

“Brilliant, gruesome, and toe-curlingly tense, Dead Weight is a deliciously dark story about female friendship and the invisible ties that bind us. With prose that both seethes with rage and overflows with affection for its subjects, Knútsdóttir has truly outdone herself. I am almost afraid to admit to how seen I felt by this novella and its unforgettable protagonist. I didn't want it to end.” —Melissa Larsen, USA Today bestselling author of The Lost House

“Strange, breathless, insistent, and obsessive...will leave you with a chill that lingers like a blood stain.” —Ai Jiang, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Linghun

“An endearing page-turner. I spent the whole book anxious. Dead Weight lures you in with a sweet side before pulling your nerves taut.” —Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author

Dead Weight is an impossibly suspenseful, gruesome, and heartwarming story of friendship and love, and it’s a breath of fresh air in this era of increasing isolation and violence. I really can’t recommend it highly enough.” —Alex Grecian, New York Times bestselling author of Red Rabbit

“Terrifying, horrible, unspeakable, yet so very immediate and relatable. Forget being able to put Dead Weight down—I had to remember to breathe.” —Ryka Aoki, author of Light From Uncommon Stars

“Pure feminist catharsis, the perfect story for every woman who has ever felt wronged, maligned, or afraid.” —Sunyi Dean, USA Today bestselling author of The Book Eaters

Praise for The Night Guest:

“A truly gripping read you can devour in one sitting.”—The New York Times

"From its opening pages, Hildur Knútsdóttir's eerie and elegant The Night Guest wraps its icy fingers around you and pulls you in. It's so atmospheric, so well-crafted, and so truly, deeply unsettling that by the end, you feel every bit as haunted as its sleepless heroine. If you're a horror fan—or just a fan of great writing in general—you need to have this one on your radar!"—Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs

"A genuinely heart-pounding read."—Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

"You can speed through this book in a single spooky night and be satisfied with the chills it leaves behind.”—The Wall Street Journal

“This is psychological horror at its finest.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

"The Night Guest pulls us by our throats down Reykjavik midnight streets in an unraveling nightmare. This book moved, thrilled, and terrified me. I would walk those nightmare streets again and again with Knútsdóttir. I absolutely loved it."—CJ Leede, USA Today bestselling author of Maeve Fly

"Like the flashes of a waking nightmare, Knútsdóttir’s artful spiral of terror will have fans of Ling Ma, Paula Hawkins, and other flawed female narrators demanding more."—Booklist

"A beautifully written story: visceral, layered, and haunting. I loved every moment."—Sunyi Dean, bestselling author of The Book Eaters

Overall rating: 4.0 / 5 from 1 reviews.

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A satisfying thriller of female rage & friendship

"Book rating: 4/5 ⭐️ Genre: thriller/novella Themes: domestic abuse, animal cruelty, friendship, retribution, murder 📖 Read if you like: Morsel Have you ever imagined how you would commit the perfect murder should the need arise? Well Unnur certainly has and this is the story of how it came in use. This novella is the sort of female rage that creeps up on you. An accumulated effect of the ways men make women feel small whether it is with depreciating comments in the workplace, secrets and lies in relationships, or fists and fear behind closed doors and the way women fight back. One night a cat sneaks into Unnur’s apartment and it will change her life. When she reunites the cat with its owner Ásta, she inadvertently becomes the keeper of said cat along with its new kitten until Ásta can take them home again. As Ásta continues to visit the cats it becomes clear that the girl is in desperate need of both friendship and help. What starts off as a benign if somewhat unusual situation takes a violent turn when Ásta’s boyfriend enters the picture. As their past and current dynamic become clear, Unnur will be ready to defend her friend. This book tackles a lot of tough topics including psychological and domestic abuse. Unnur is in a liaison with a married man who has her on a carefully crafted leash and Ásta has been dating a controlling man who is not afraid to exact his will with violence since she was thirteen. There is a lot of trauma to unpack and the characters were given real backstories that lead to these situations. Even though it was short, it left an impact and begged to be finished in a single seating. It was unsettling, but realistic with a sort of horror that crept up on me. I am not necessarily a cat person, but I liked the symbolism here and the fated interaction. I always enjoy the Icelandic landscape for storytelling and this thriller morphed into a quiet gut punch. I laughed at the dark humour and got behind these women. Thank you to @MacmillanAudio for an ALC #MacAudio2026 🎧The narration was perfect for Unnur as she goes through an emotional revelation and Ásta was given a fey like quality. I didn’t love the male interludes and thought it lacked a little of the Icelandic melody, but the tones was soothing and easy to listen to."

Karisbookclub (4/5)

Q&A

  • Published date: May 26, 2026
  • Language: English
  • No. of Pages: 160
  • Publisher: Tor Publishing Group
  • ISBN: 9781250329295
  • Dimensions: 5.3" W x 0.7" L x 8.25" H

Hildur Knútsdóttir was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1984. She has lived in Spain, Germany, and Taiwan and studied literature and creative writing at The University of Iceland. She writes fiction both for adults and teenagers, as well as short fiction, plays, and screenplays. Hildur is known for her evocative fantastical fiction and spine-chilling horror. The Night Guest was her first book translated into English. She lives in Reykjavík with her husband, their two daughters, and a dog called Uggi.

Mary Robinette Kowal, translator of Dead Weight, is the author of The Spare Man, Ghost Talkers, The Glamourist Histories series, and the Lady Astronaut Universe. She is part of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and a four-time Hugo Award winner. Her short fiction appears in Uncanny, Tor.com, and Asimov’s. She lived in Iceland while performing for LazyTown (CBS) as a professional puppeteer. The Night Guest was her first work of translation.

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