Finished it in a single sitting! Really helped pull me out of a very long reading slump. Such a fun book. Full of humour and chaos

A new to me author but I'd read more based on this one. It's a fun read, amusing at times and kept me gripped.

A very light hearted tale of how miscommunications between couples can cause problems. It follows the antics of three couples where the women had planned a comfortable retirement lifestyle with no financial worries - that is until their husbands lose their money in a failed investment.

Hank works at a casino and when Dave tells him about a way of skimming money from a particular machine, they hatch a plan to recoup the money they lost and include their other friends to help. When the casino is sold and the new boss has connections with a well know crime family, things start to go wrong.

Following the death Dave and the insurance payout his widow received - the women devise a plan to hire a hit man to kill the three husbands for the insurance money which will put them back into the lifestyle they were accustomed to before all was lost.

The way Dave died rouses suspicions in Hank and when he overhears his new boss talking about her family sending men from India, he becomes paranoid that they are onto the scheme, who was involved and that they are next on the hit list. The three men hire a hit man to "deal" with any potential threat to their own lives.

What follows is a mixture of paranoia and panic from the men and surprising determination from the women.

A very easy and gentle paced read that is comical and enjoyable.

A light thriller about a plethora of wild miscommunication, The Retirement Plan proved to be an entertaining read, giving Finlay Donovan vibes with a cast of older characters.
Marlene’s husband Dave dies in a freak accident. Or was it a revenge murder? Marlene’s insurance payout and subsequent move to Florida inspires her friends Pam, Nancy, and Shalisa to hire a hitman. Unbeknownst to them, their husbands have plans of their own…
Despite being a lengthy book, there wasn’t too much character development, meaning I struggled to connect to any one character. Having said this, The Retirement Plan is a very enjoyable book with twists and turns aplenty. I think this would make a great tv series!

I really enjoyed this entertaining and dark debut novel. It’s so ridiculously funny. I couldn’t put it down.
With plenty of humour, twists and turns, it’s full of action and drama that keeps you turning the pages. It’s told in multiple POV’s with vivid, interesting and mostly likeable characters, plus a lovable dog. It’s clever and written so well with its funny misunderstandings and miscommunications. It’s tense but full of heart. A engaging story about friendship, marriage and middle age.
I definitely recommend reading this one. It’s well worth the read. Just brilliant.
I look forward to reading more from @suehincenbergs
Thanks to #NetGallery #LittleBrownBookGroupUk @TheCrimeVault @LittleBrownUk @BethWright26 for an arc of #TheRetirementPlan in exchange for a honest review.
Book publishes 6 May 2025

A dark, funny well written read that was just plain bonkers at points. I particularly loved Hector’s character and the clever plotting of this outrageous tale of what happens when marriages go stale.

Pension Plan funny business.

This. Is the story of four couples in their sixties who have been close friends since their teens. Hank Montgomery is the manager of the local casino and his marriage to Pam is failing. Many years before Hank got his friend, Dave Brand, a job at the casino as their tech wizard, Dave is married to Marlene but their relationship is failing. The other couples are Larry Clooney, a bank manager, and his wife, Nancy, and Andre Murphy, who has a courier business, and his wife Shalisa. Yes, you guessed it, both these couples have marital difficulties too. It has to be said, however, that the friendships of the four girls and the four boys have never been stronger.

The marital difficulties largely stem from Hank introducing to the others a sure thing investment opportunity into which the they all put their retirement savings, only to see them slip down the drain. Four years back, Dave finds a flaw in the setup of some new gaming machines which enables him to skim an extra regular payout and the four boys work the scam to replenish their lost investment, but fail to tell the girls about it.

The casino is sold to an Indian company, with organised crime connections, and Hank gets a new boss - Padma Singh, daughter of the company’s owner. But then Dave dies as the result of an ‘accident’ in his garage and Hank has reason to believe that this is the way the new owners deal with ‘problems’ such as their scam.

The boys and the girls each see the employment of a hit man as the solution to their current problems, and fortunately there is one, Hector Chavez, doubling as a local barber.

This is a romp which, while not generating belly laughs, did manage to entice many a cheerful grin from me. It makes an entertaining read because almost inevitably wherever a plan can go wrong, it surely will.

Pension Plan funny business.

Idiots. the lot of them.

This one just wasn't for me.

I wanted a break from romance, and man did I get it. This was a long story about multiple marriages failing, leading to a whole bunch of crazy. It was a silly and then ridiculous.
To me, personally, the humor didn't quite hit. It was too convoluted. The miscommunication trope which was supposed to be funny, was far more anxiety inducing for me. If you, like me, cannot stand the miscommunication trope, this is not for you.

Without going into spoilers, all I can say is that most of the characters weren't likeable to me, and I truly don't understand how they were married for 30 years, or why any of the women would choose to stay.

However, if you don't mind miscommunication and some bumbling idiots, and plenty of people do, this is probably good fun for you! (And ends in a HEA, so you don't have to be too worried)

I also think there were some racial caricatures that I didn't appreciate. While Padma and Hector, weren't evil and Hector had a moral compass, it is odd to me that the only characters with ties to organised crime we're all POC.

Thank-you NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group, for allowing me to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Desperate housewives meets the Thursday murder club when three friends nearing retirement are inspired by the death of another friends husband to hire a hitman.

All three woman have been pushed to the limit and decide that they would rather have their husbands life insurance payout than spend their retirement with their other half.

Hiring a hitman the women sit back and wait but will they be able to go through with it.

This is an easy read with lots of funny parts. I love all the characters and would love to be in their friendship group. I would enjoy catching up with the characters a few years down the road.

This story reminded me of 90’s and early 00’s movies, like The First Wives Club and Death Becomes Her - it’s a crime caper with a rom-com overlay. If they made the book into a film it would definitely star Goldie Hawn! It was a lot of fun to read and had me laughing and gasping many times. If something could be misinterpreted or could go wrong, then it did! There were many ‘They don’t know that we know, that they know…’ type situations and they were written with brilliant humour and pacing.
All of the main characters were great, well-rounded and all had something you could relate to in their personalities. Outside of these, the more minor characters of Hector, Padma, and the brilliant Elmer the rescue dog were excellent additions to the madcap antics. The visual style of writing had me seeing every scene in loads of detail in my mind which gave it a technicolour vibe and added to the nostalgic feel of what I find hard to accept is a time that was nearly 30 years ago - the 90’s is absolutely where I saw this book as being set.
The ending was perfect in my opinion, completely bonkers and over the top but very fitting. This book is a great escape from the drudgery of everyday life, and it might just give you some retirement pointers if you’re game.

A great romp of a read – dark humour, laugh aloud moments, clever plotting, nifty dialogue, with more ‘unexpecteds’ than you can shake a stick at. Murderous mishaps abound amongst the diverse characters, each with a memorable part to play in the journey to ‘all is revealed’. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it would make a great film – I suspect it was written with that in mind – and hope it is taken up. We all deserve a good laugh.

This is one retirement plan that takes things to the extreme: funny, dark, and devious.. Three friends decide to plan for their retirement, but not with their husbands, who lost all their savings in a deal gone wrong...
Swapping their husbands for life insurance policies may be the way out for the girls to retire in style... How and when is put in the hands of the local hitman, who is the Barber.
A brilliant debut, I loved it. A five from me and a recommendation to read

Bonkers and plain daft in places but well worth a read - just switch off your brain and go with the mayhem!

This is like a vengeful, blood-thirsty Golden Girls and I'm here for it. Could this lot have sorted out their problems with a simple conversation? Yes. Would that have been half as satisfying or funny? NO! As I grow older I'm all here for growing old disgracefully, doing the unexpected and being the person they warn you about when you go to an old folks home.

Money mismanagement, sketchy hitmen, heists and shady Casino employees all distil into a great wee Oceans 6 - OAP edition. The constant switching of POV can be a bit disconcerting but it actually kept the pacing tight and kept the action going. Padma and Hector are by far the most interesting of the secondary characters.

Not a great advertisement for these couples relationships but a great chortle filled comedy of errors.

The title of the book is certainly not a clue to the content of the book. A quick and fun read with a slightly eccentric tale to tell. For me an original storyline well executed. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

The Retirement Plan had a promising premise with a unique twist on crime, deception, and the idea of starting over later in life. There were moments where I was genuinely gripped and curious to see how it would all unfold.

That said, this one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I struggled to connect with the characters—none of them quite landed as lovable or hateable, which made it harder to stay emotionally invested. The setting also felt a bit vague, and while the plot had its moments of intrigue, the pacing dragged in places. There were also several elements (especially involving hitmen and faked deaths) that raised some logical questions and pulled me out of the story.

Still, there’s something to be said for the originality of the concept and the occasional suspenseful beats that kept me reading. I’d give this one 3.5 stars—an interesting idea that didn’t fully land for me, but might work better for others who enjoy character-driven crime fiction with a slower pace.

Three wives have a plan to get rid of their husbands for the life insurance policies, however are unaware that their husbands have their own retirement plans. When things go awry, they fear that their plans have backfired.

I enjoy a cat and mouse thriller with a fun concept so this sounded exactly like a book I would want to read. This ended up being an entertaining, light hearted story with plenty of humour. I found that although this was interesting, it felt a bit repetitive and predictable. It also took a while to keep track of the characters as there are quite a few you are introduced to at once. This wasn’t a bad read overall and would be good for someone looking for a quirky, cosy mystery. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

A joyous comedy of errors, I loved 'The Retirement Plan'.

Four sixty-something friends have long dreamed of an idyllic retirement until their husbands ruin everything by losing thousands of dollars investing in a scheme that goes disastrously wrong. Out of the blue Dave, one of the husbands, dies in a freak accident. His grieving widow soon learns she is the beneficiary of a million dollar insurance policy, suddenly widowhood doesn't seem so bad. Still disgruntled by the financial losses heaped on them, the other three friends discover their husbands each have life insurance cover of their own and come up with the perfect retirement plan.

The husbands have their own plan, a scheme that will not only cancel out their previous losses but also provide for an extremely well funded retirement. All is well until a thousand dollar casino chip is found close to Dave when his body is discovered. Is his death really the result of a tragic accident or is there something more sinister at play?

So begins a hilarious tale of pursuit, repeated misunderstandings, deceptions and near misses. Sue Hincenbergs' clever and almost mischievious plot twists are a delight. No trying to work out who had done what to whom, trying to be one step ahead of the author. I surrendered completely to the fun and absurd chaos and enjoyed the book all the more for it. I loved the relationship between Hector and Brenda and laughed out loud at Padma's mother's attempts to find her a suitable match.

Hugely entertaining, a solid four stars from me.

With many thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for my advanced reader copy in return for my honest and unbiased review.

Crime Capers with a cast of characters, you can’t help but warm to.

Buckle up and prepare for a bumpy ride with Pam, her girlfriends and their husbands, not forgetting beloved Elmer.

It’s a bit satirical at times and completely ludicrous at others. I wasn’t sure if I would like it as it doesn’t follow a ‘cosy’ formula, but I kept reading anyway – it was one of those novels that you couldn’t peel your eyes away from the pages to find out the consequences of the characters ridiculous decision s. I couldn’t really say I liked any of them or their actions. Yet they did have a certain warmth to them. They felt like they were tragicomedy characters, even the ones that were on the peripheral.

In the end, I found it to be a quirky novel and didn’t take itself too seriously.

An amusing tale whereby 3 wives come up against their husbands who are plotting to pull of a casino heist. Lots of twists and turns with good humour injected throughout. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is the first book I've read by this author and will now be looking at her other books. The Retirement Plan speaks for itself regarding 4 couples who have been friends for years. This book made me laugh, smile and cry. Not so much a tense thriller but it certainly had its moments . A great read which I thoroughly enjoyed