CBR18 Bingo – Refuge: a pregnant cat and her owner take refuge with someone who didn’t ask for this.
A few months ago I got a black cat, which many took as an invitation to talk about how black cats have it worse than others.
Look at my cat. He likes the window that makes him hard to photograph.
After Night Guest, I wouldn’t have read another book by Hildur Knútsdóttir, but Narfna’s review of Dead Weight reassured me that the black cat would be fine and that the character who dies deserves it. So I read it.
The book is about the cat distribution system delivering more than a cat. It delivers two cats, a friendship, and a murder.
Unnar is just some lady. She has a job. She’s sleeping with some married guy whose marriage is totally over, he swears. She has a “how to dispose of a body” plan, but in a thought experiment way. There’s nothing remarkable going on.
When a cat moves into her apartment, she tries to find its owner. She doesn’t have time for a cat or want one. She’s very busy with her job, calling her boyfriend, and looking at her boyfriend’s wife’s social media.
It’s fairly easy to find who the cat belongs to. Ásta is a doting cat owner and should have taken her cat back, letting both women move on with their lives.
Instead, Ásta sets up an awkward co-parenting system with an unwilling but ultimately compliant Unnar. The cat – who turns out to be pregnant – will live with Unnar. Ásta will maintain responsibility for taking care of the cat and eventual kitten.
This is strange. It makes no sense. Until it does.
And which character deserves to die? I thought there might be a few candidates, but the best option was obvious by the end.
