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Deadweight
After killing her abusive husband, Danny, in self-defense, Karin spends her days tending flowers at his grave, unable to let go of him, that is, until he rises from the grave to abuse her again. Original.
353 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
3 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
About the author
Robert Devereaux
34Ìýbooks74ÌýfollowersRobert Devereaux made his professional debut in Pulphouse magazine in the late 1980's, attended the 1990 Clarion West Writers Workshop, and soon placed stories in such major venues as Crank!, Weird Tales, and Dennis Etchison's anthology MetaHorror.
Two of his stories made the final ballot for the Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Awards. Robert has a well-deserved reputation as an author who pushes every envelope, though he would claim, with a stage actor's assurance, that as long as one's writing illuminates characters in all their kinks, quirks, kindnesses, and extremes, the imagination must be free to explore nasty places as well as nice, or what's the point?
His first novel Deadweight interweaves a King-like plot, penile implants, and splatterpunk extremes of sex and violence, managing all the while to be a sensitive, spot-on portrayal of an abused woman incapable of relinquishing her role as victim.
Walking Wounded, his next novel, explores the dilemma of a good woman able to heal with her hands, but also to harm even unto death, whose discovery that her husband is cheating on her moves her, against her every humane impulse, to activate his Huntington's Disease and take him down.
Robert went on to shock the bluenoses with Santa Steps Out, in which Santa Claus's gradual recall of his prior existence as Pan leads to an affair with the Tooth Fairy, while a voyeuristic Easter Bunny tries to twitch and wiggle his way into Mrs. Claus's good graces. Santa Steps Out, which won much praise for its mythological underpinnings and the breathtaking sweep of its transgressions, also had the honor of being banned in that cultural backwater of intolerance and censoriousness known as Cincinnati.
Robert's fourth novel, Caliban, borrows a page from John Gardner's Grendel to retell Shakespeare's Tempest through Caliban's eyes.
Robert lives in sunny northern Colorado with the delightful Victoria and their melodious cat Sigfried, making up stuff that tickles his fancy and, he hopes, those of his readers.
Two of his stories made the final ballot for the Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Awards. Robert has a well-deserved reputation as an author who pushes every envelope, though he would claim, with a stage actor's assurance, that as long as one's writing illuminates characters in all their kinks, quirks, kindnesses, and extremes, the imagination must be free to explore nasty places as well as nice, or what's the point?
His first novel Deadweight interweaves a King-like plot, penile implants, and splatterpunk extremes of sex and violence, managing all the while to be a sensitive, spot-on portrayal of an abused woman incapable of relinquishing her role as victim.
Walking Wounded, his next novel, explores the dilemma of a good woman able to heal with her hands, but also to harm even unto death, whose discovery that her husband is cheating on her moves her, against her every humane impulse, to activate his Huntington's Disease and take him down.
Robert went on to shock the bluenoses with Santa Steps Out, in which Santa Claus's gradual recall of his prior existence as Pan leads to an affair with the Tooth Fairy, while a voyeuristic Easter Bunny tries to twitch and wiggle his way into Mrs. Claus's good graces. Santa Steps Out, which won much praise for its mythological underpinnings and the breathtaking sweep of its transgressions, also had the honor of being banned in that cultural backwater of intolerance and censoriousness known as Cincinnati.
Robert's fourth novel, Caliban, borrows a page from John Gardner's Grendel to retell Shakespeare's Tempest through Caliban's eyes.
Robert lives in sunny northern Colorado with the delightful Victoria and their melodious cat Sigfried, making up stuff that tickles his fancy and, he hopes, those of his readers.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 12, 2023
Devereaux's first novel, released under Dell's Abyss label in 1993, tried to take splatterpunk to a new level, or at least a new direction, but ultimately, this did not work for me. Deadweight starts off brutal, with vicious spousal abuse before the father rapes his 10 yo daughter. Devereaux tried to push every trigger button in just a few pages! This 'prologue' did, however, set the tone for the book, for better or worse.
Flash forward a few decades and the little girl, now woman, married a man who, after a brief honeymoon, proceeded to abuse her horribly until one day she killed him with a knife. She ended up marrying the defense lawyer that kept her out of jail, but finds little happiness in life. The only thing that keeps her going are plants, and she has an extraordinary green thumb! Still feeling guilty for some reason about killing her abusive husband, she starts to visit his grave, and lately this pilgrimage takes place one a day, with her bringing flowers and carefully tending his grave. Karin's green thumb turns out to be a bit more than that, however, when she discovers she can bring flowers back to life with a touch. It also seems that her touch can bring more than flowers to life as her dead husband starts stirring in his grave...
Why did not Deadweight work for me? First, I just could not take Karin. Here is a woman, abused sexually and mentally almost all her life and after all that she starts pining for her dead husband? I get it; he could be a nice guy on occasion, but he beat you, raped you, and even had his nasty dog lick dinner off your bruised breasts. She should have been pissing on his grave, not leaving flowers. Further, before all the foo really starts, her neighbor scales the fence and just about rapes her standing in the garden while she just stood there. Shellshocked for life? Destined to be a victim? Spousal abuse makes my skin crawl and Devereaux went at this with a blunt stick.
Secondly, suspension of disbelief failed as well. Karin's healing powers bring her husband back to life and he is more vicious and nasty than ever. So we have this zombie guy (and his zombie dog) deciding to take some revenge on Karin. Just too much. Deadweight does have some truly horrific scenes and if you are really into gore, this may float your boat. This one left a bad taste in my mouth and a dire need for a shower; I was definitely more disgusted than scared. 1.5 stars, rounding up as I managed to finish it.
Flash forward a few decades and the little girl, now woman, married a man who, after a brief honeymoon, proceeded to abuse her horribly until one day she killed him with a knife. She ended up marrying the defense lawyer that kept her out of jail, but finds little happiness in life. The only thing that keeps her going are plants, and she has an extraordinary green thumb! Still feeling guilty for some reason about killing her abusive husband, she starts to visit his grave, and lately this pilgrimage takes place one a day, with her bringing flowers and carefully tending his grave. Karin's green thumb turns out to be a bit more than that, however, when she discovers she can bring flowers back to life with a touch. It also seems that her touch can bring more than flowers to life as her dead husband starts stirring in his grave...
Why did not Deadweight work for me? First, I just could not take Karin. Here is a woman, abused sexually and mentally almost all her life and after all that she starts pining for her dead husband? I get it; he could be a nice guy on occasion, but he beat you, raped you, and even had his nasty dog lick dinner off your bruised breasts. She should have been pissing on his grave, not leaving flowers. Further, before all the foo really starts, her neighbor scales the fence and just about rapes her standing in the garden while she just stood there. Shellshocked for life? Destined to be a victim? Spousal abuse makes my skin crawl and Devereaux went at this with a blunt stick.
Secondly, suspension of disbelief failed as well. Karin's healing powers bring her husband back to life and he is more vicious and nasty than ever. So we have this zombie guy (and his zombie dog) deciding to take some revenge on Karin. Just too much. Deadweight does have some truly horrific scenes and if you are really into gore, this may float your boat. This one left a bad taste in my mouth and a dire need for a shower; I was definitely more disgusted than scared. 1.5 stars, rounding up as I managed to finish it.
November 13, 2024
This is a well written old school splatterpunk tale. Recommend to new and old fans of the genre. The story is about Karen growing up with an abusive father and eventually marrying an abusive husband. Karen kills her husband Danny in self defense and attempts to rebuild her life. The problem is Danny won’t stay dead. When he returns from the grave he cuts a violent and depraved path towards Karen. When the third act kicks in it’s like a buzz saw to the end.
3.5 💀’s
3.5 💀’s
July 22, 2019
It's a shame I can't rate a book with fewer than one star. Deadweight is irredeemable and indefensible. It's sexist, misogynistic, brutal, and cruel, and in the end, it's pointless.
May 10, 2016
I almost didn't finish it. The first half was too slow. I was getting bored with the main character's grave yard visits and her obsession with all kinds of plants and flowers. Yeah I get it, she is into plants and misses her ex-husband who beat her up. But...... halfway thru the violence begins and it is brutal! Some really disgusting scenes! But that's about it. He comes back from the dead by his ex wife who apparently has healing powers. Explicit sex and violence in this one. I didn't care for the ending.
December 16, 2013
A lifelong victim of abuse, Karin ends the cycle by killing her husband, Danny. But then she accidentally starts it all over again, and Danny comes back even worse than in life, an automaton of sadistic impulses.
Deadweight is brutal, grim, and in-your-face. It’s also touching and hopeful. But mostly it’s brutal. There’s no comfort food: No humor to air out the horrendous violence that stomps, like Danny, through these pages.
You'll cringe at how well the author describes violence. But it's not "torture porn." It's a story of people, of humanity broken, saved, mutilated, abandoned at the graveside. At the end there's a payoff for all the blood and guts.
Deadweight is brutal, grim, and in-your-face. It’s also touching and hopeful. But mostly it’s brutal. There’s no comfort food: No humor to air out the horrendous violence that stomps, like Danny, through these pages.
You'll cringe at how well the author describes violence. But it's not "torture porn." It's a story of people, of humanity broken, saved, mutilated, abandoned at the graveside. At the end there's a payoff for all the blood and guts.
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January 30, 2014A brutal piece of fiction from one of the bad boys of horror. Is it a zombie tale? A tragic love story? This was Deveraux's first novel from the much missed Dell Abyss line of horror paperback originals of the 90's and it's a page turner from page one to end.
May 20, 2023
I remember reading somewhere -- probably in an old issue of Fangoria -- that this was the "best zombie book" that the reviewer had ever read. I searched used bookstores high and low for a copy for years, and eventually found one in Mentor, Ohio for $2.50. Then it moved from one apartment to another with me for 15 years or more. After buying it, and reading the descriptive text on the cover thoroughly, I knew it was not going to be a fun read at all, and there kept being books that I wanted to read more than this one. But it's time finally came.
The book begins with the description of an abusive father raping his daughter and I almost tossed it into a donation box unfinished, but something told me to continue. The novel details some grueling events, sometimes written from the perspective of the perpetrator, to very disturbing effect. The heroine is battling a lifetime of abuse and struggling to accept love from the milquetoast lawyer she married after murdering her first husband, who was as abusive as her father.
The author does not shy away from descriptions of the heinous acts of the husband, who is risen from the grave in a very unexpected way, a way that is the reason to finish this book. It differentiates Deadweight from other books on the subject, bringing a fantastical element to a story that is otherwise to grimly set in the reality of abused vs abuser. Though I struggled to get through some of the harrowing events of the story, part of me had to acknowledge that the effect of healing from trauma is not as great if you do not empathically experience the trauma with the victim. So taking this journey with the heroine, wherein she finds a power in herself and learns how to use it to free herself and help others is made all the more impactful (for me) through the brutal description.
However... I am curious how this book would have read if it had been written by a woman, and I would never with any good conscience recommend Deadweight to anyone.
The book begins with the description of an abusive father raping his daughter and I almost tossed it into a donation box unfinished, but something told me to continue. The novel details some grueling events, sometimes written from the perspective of the perpetrator, to very disturbing effect. The heroine is battling a lifetime of abuse and struggling to accept love from the milquetoast lawyer she married after murdering her first husband, who was as abusive as her father.
The author does not shy away from descriptions of the heinous acts of the husband, who is risen from the grave in a very unexpected way, a way that is the reason to finish this book. It differentiates Deadweight from other books on the subject, bringing a fantastical element to a story that is otherwise to grimly set in the reality of abused vs abuser. Though I struggled to get through some of the harrowing events of the story, part of me had to acknowledge that the effect of healing from trauma is not as great if you do not empathically experience the trauma with the victim. So taking this journey with the heroine, wherein she finds a power in herself and learns how to use it to free herself and help others is made all the more impactful (for me) through the brutal description.
However... I am curious how this book would have read if it had been written by a woman, and I would never with any good conscience recommend Deadweight to anyone.
November 19, 2023
i like gore when its done well and devereaux really knows how to write it well but nothing here really hits me aside from some evocative descriptions. when the ideas bolstering the violence arent interesting on their own it just falls flat
Want to read
May 26, 2024I am sorry to leave a comment here under reviews for a book that I have not read yet but I wanted to assign a date for this book and the date set functionality of the website currently seems to be broken. If they get this working I will use this and delete this review.
03-08-2017
03-08-2017
October 1, 2018
Disturbing
July 25, 2012
I love horror, I'm not a prude and I don't have a problem with sex and violence in fiction. But I can't recall hating a book as much as I did this piece of crap. Did people like Dennis Etchison and Poppy Z. Brite get paid to blurb this? Unbelievable! Mr Devereaux knows how to write a sentence, I'll give him that, but unfortunately he has the Eli Roth approach to horror. This story is no more than the literary equivalent of a pie throwing contest (with sex and gore instead of pies). Even a bad pulp writer like Richard Laymon is way preferable over this. He's just as gory and misogynistic but at least he's less pretentious about it. This one is bad beyond belief and it's not even unintentionally funny.
Want to read
July 23, 2011Stephen King endorsed the entire Dell Abyss Horror line. Here is his blurb:
"Thank you for introducing me to the remarkable line of novels currently being issued under Dell's Abyss imprint. I have given a great many blurbs over the last twelve years or so, but this one marks two firsts: first unsolicited blurb (I called you) and the first time I have blurbed a whole line of books. In terms of quality, production, and plain old story-telling reliability (that's the bottom line, isn't it), Dell's new line is amazingly satisfying...a rare and wonderful bargain for readers. I hope to be looking into the Abyss for a long time to come."
"Thank you for introducing me to the remarkable line of novels currently being issued under Dell's Abyss imprint. I have given a great many blurbs over the last twelve years or so, but this one marks two firsts: first unsolicited blurb (I called you) and the first time I have blurbed a whole line of books. In terms of quality, production, and plain old story-telling reliability (that's the bottom line, isn't it), Dell's new line is amazingly satisfying...a rare and wonderful bargain for readers. I hope to be looking into the Abyss for a long time to come."
December 30, 2010
some very rough parts to this book ....not for the squeamish
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June 19, 2011Good book graphic as ...!
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