The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs was such an incredibly fun and twisty ride. I absolutely loved the way the author blended humor and thriller elements with layers of misunderstandings, secrets, twists, guilt, and heartfelt emotions. The story revolves around four couples and really takes off after the tragic death of one of the husbands, Dave, in a terrible accident. The other three wives when they see the $1 million life insurance payout and dream up a crazy scheme. But the real question is, was Dave’s death really an accident?
The husbands suspect it might be murder, and their suspicions are rooted in a secret they’re keeping from their wives. And so begins an exciting adventure where both sides, the husbands and the wives, are scrambling to come out the other side with something resembling happily-ever-after. The story is a rollercoaster, alternating between moments of tense drama and laugh out loud comedy. Thanks to the multiple points of view, you get to see the story unfold from nearly every angle, yet the author masterfully holds back just enough to deliver some delightful twists along the way.

What really stood out to me were the themes of friendship and marriage woven throughout the book. The secondary characters also played a big role and added so much depth to the story. Padma, the casino boss trying to prove herself to her crime boss mother, was a standout for me. And Hector, the barber with a less than legal side hustle, had a great sense of right and wrong that I found super endearing. The pacing is sharp and the unexpected plot shifts kept coming. I definitely enjoyed this one all the way though.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

This was a wacky, laugh out loud debut that sees the husband and wife pairs of four older friend couples pitted against each other as they fight over who will survive and take the money the men have slowly been stealing from the casino where they work.

Twisty, full of laughs and just zany enough to keep readers flipping pages to the end as the tables constantly get turned. The story was also good on audio and is told from multiple POVs (including that of the hired hitman and his wife and the new Casino manager).

Recommended for fans of The Golden girls and the Oceans Eleven franchise. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a solid debut!
My favorite part is that we got the perspectives of all the main players: the wives, the husbands, the hit-man, and the casino management.
There were funny moments. While I found it hard to empathize with the wives in any way, I thought the ending was cute.
The postscript was QUITE interesting.
Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher, William Morrow, for an opportunity to read this book.

2.75/5 stars

a supposed fun romp where three wives come up with a plan to murder their husbands to collect their insurance money. this was a bit of a flop for me. honestly, none of the characters in this book were likable but especially the useless men. my god, i hated them.

while there were twists and turns, a lot of this was over the top and a bit predictable. i was bored for most of it. there were pov's from characters that i didn't care for or who really added anything to the story. everything worked out too easily. the most unserious part of it was that by the end, the women took these men back???? please.

I needed something light and fun, and since THE RETIREMENT PLAN is marketed as “darkly funny,” I thought it would be the perfect fit. I was mistaken.

Okay, so the story started out fun. We have four older couples who are all at a sort of crossroads in their relationships.

But I quickly lost the humor. In fact, I often felt sad.

The story relies on pitting the husbands and wives against each other. None of these couples had actual conversations. Ever. One honest conversation between any one of these couples would have prevented the entire mess of a story from happening.

This could have worked, maybe, if the female friendships had at least been supportive. Yet these women, close for decades, also didn’t have any important conversations. Then they made an incredibly rash, extreme decision over a five-minute complaint session.

And greed. Lots of greed, everywhere.

We have a huge cast of characters with a whole lot going on. It’s over the top, overly complicated, and ridiculous.

But this is just my opinion. You might be among those who love this one.

*Thanks to William Morrow for the free eARC, provided via NetGalley.*

I am a thriller girl at heart and this one was a different twist on that genre. I really enjoyed it. It was funny and exciting. I liked the characters and the pace. I would definitely recommend.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.

Four couples who have been friends for years lose their retirement money and their dreams on a bad investment which affects all their marriages negatively in different ways. When one of the husbands dies in a freak accident with the garage door, the wives discover that their husbands all took out $1 million dollar life insurance policies and decide that life without them sounds pretty good. The three wives decide to hire a hitman to make it look like an accident while they are all together. Meanwhile the husbands have a different plan for the future but it is dangerous enough that they become convinced their friend was murdered and they hire the same hitman to protect them. This comical but touching story illustrates the ups and downs of marriage and the misunderstandings from not communicating in a really entertaining read.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review! #theretirementplan #netgalley

When you constantly read thrillers and other dark stories, it's a nice pallate cleanser to find a thriller with humor!

The Retirement Plan follows three wives and besties as they plan to murder their husbands for the insurance money. What they don't realize is that the husbands have a plan of their own!

This was a quick page turner, breath of fresh air, and funny. It's so absurd that at times you're yelling at the characters, but that's what makes it more entertaining honestly.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You have to read this! Especially if you are a person of a certain age and life didn't turn out as expected. It's never to late for that to happen. This was so delightfully entertaining although the ending seemed to drag a bit and intent on tying up loose ends. Luckily, I appreciate that because loose ends bother me.
I also love reading new Canadian authors.
This is a story of a friend group, misunderstandings, miscommunications and not knowing you have what you want until you no longer have it. It is also a story of a woman, Padma, who must constantly tell herself she is enough and she is awesome due to the overwhelming influence of her mother and her "hard truths". Padma is forced to look for a mate so that is mixed into this story as well.
3 of the men use the same barber, Hector, who is from El Salvador and tells them he "does what needs doing". After one of the 4 dies, the other men wonder if they are next. Never guessing that they should be afraid of their wives and their dream of a better life.
I enjoyed the dark humour. I was impressed by the power and resolve of these middle aged women who are fed up. I could relate to the examination of long time marriages and the complacency that comes with that. Well done, Sue Hincenbergs.

Fun and twisty page turner really enjoyed reading this one. Pam and her friends are not enjoying the retirement they thought they had planned after their husbands lost money in a bad investment. After one of them becomes a widow and cashes in on life insurance they start to wonder if their husbands could have an accident too. I really enjoyed the premise and all the characters in this book and would recommend for sure. Rating this 3/3.5 stars. I want to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this cute read. Super funny, campy, and fun. It really needs to be turned into a movie or Netflix series. It made me laugh and I loved the characters and the plot. As a long married lady all the ups and downs of the four couple characters rang so true. I love that it had some backstabbing and double crossing but the plot was simple enough that I didn't get confused. I really loved the humorous side stories of what was going with each character and how they got figured out during the book. This book kept my attention and brought my mood up because of its campy nature - the author's writing style reminded me of a Carl Hiaasen book.

The Retirement Plan- Or the frustrations woman feel when in a marriage that can’t seem to break from the old habits and norm. But isn’t that relatable? For three friends in a marriage it was. Until one of the husbands is found dead and widowhood never looked so good.

Like a mystery, the red herrings begin and the secrets from our spouses start right out the gate. It’s fun watching these women converse. Being friends and married to the same men for 30 years, watching them catch the little out of ordinary things their counter parts do and the conversations seem to flow easily. This definitely follows the playbook of mystery/thriller stories, as the reader is introduced to a “who is who” early on but maybe too many intros at once, to try and keep track of all the players.

The full plot wasn’t obvious, which I enjoyed. I appreciated the parts the husbands played, as the writer didn’t try to force something to be subtle that wasn’t and just let it be obvious and direct as it should be. Felt like the author was giving credit to the intelligence of their reader. So getting the point of view from both husband and wife was a good choice. Although, the husband was starting to be quite a stretch, especially from a guy who couldn’t figure out to put away his shoes. It’s been a while since a book claimed to be funny had moments of me giggling, so I was happy to have a similar sense of humor as the author.

The first half of the book was stronger, as the story progressed, it unfortunately when into some predictable territory. And this is way too long; the story was definitely losing steam and wrapped way too easily, almost like it was glad to be done. In the end, I could have done without Padma’s point of view. Overall, a like-able and enjoyable funny mystery.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I don't think I was/am the intended target audience for this book as I am in my twenties. It's too bad because the premise of this book sounded good. Oh well.

This delightfully funny story gives insight into how truly dangerous it is to ignore the age old adage, "happy wife, happy life." I laughed many times while reading this book at the absurdity and mad cap humor throughout. This book has many twists and turns and is surprisingly loving and sweet, well as loving and sweet as can be while plotting to off your husbands, and a realistic view into the thoughts of married life and what might lead you to such a decision e.g.,
"You don’t do that to someone you love. That’s when I knew he doesn’t love me anymore. When he ate my pad thai.”

Thank you to the author, @williammorrowbooks and @netgalley for an ARC!

Loved the premise of this book but is so poorly written that it is an absolute struggle to finish. I don’t recommend it.

This book definitely wasn’t for me. I could not get into it as I could not relate to any of the characters. I appreciate the early read opportunity, but had a hard time staying focused on it.

This book is about three middle-aged friends who turned to murders in order to collect on their husbands’ life insurance policies... but there husbands had an idea of their own. This book was such a turn pager!! My first book by this author thank you net galley!

The author did a very good job in telling this fast-paced and action-packed narrative that boasted an eclectic cast of characters and plenty of finger pointing that had me completely immersed in what was happening, quickly becoming a page-turner as I had to know how this was all going to end. In between the suspense and intrigue, there was humor that had me chuckling through this well-written and wickedly mischievous plot. I loved that the author changed directions multiple times, taking me to a variety of different scenarios that followed along with what the author intended, including plenty of twists and turns that enhanced my reading pleasure. Overall, this was an enjoyable and amusingly charming mystery.

A group of best friends decides it's in their best interests to kill their husbands so that they can enjoy their retirement. The husbands have been getting on their nerves, and the ladies think life will be easier without them. As they begin to plot their husband's demises, little do they know, their husbands have retirement plans of their own. What ensues is highly entertaining, suspenseful, heart-warming and funny. I loved this!!!! I felt like a was reading an episode of I Love Lucy at some points. This book hit all the boxes, and will be my staff recommendation for May!

Couldn’t get into it

This had too many characters and I just didn’t care about any of them. I tried reading it several times but could. Not get into it.