Sue Hincenberg’s debut novel,"The Retirement Plan," is a humorously sharp thriller that dismantles the notion of aging quietly.

Three longtime friends - Pam, Nancy, and Shalisa - facing the realities of midlife stumble upon a rather unconventional retirement strategy: cashing in on their husbands’ life insurance policies. Unfortunately, they are unaware that their spouses have a similarly ruthless plan of their own. This results in a game of deception where survival hinges on outmaneuvering the others.

The novel's greatest strength is its character work. The women are not merely caricatures of midlife dissatisfaction; they are deeply human, and their frustrations and aspirations lend authenticity to even their most reckless schemes. The husbands, who are equally desperate and cunning, lend tension that keeps the plot moving. The novel’s humor is delightfully deadpan, laced with Gen X cynicism and wit.

While a bit slow at the beginning, once the plot gets going the pacing is relentless with twists arriving at exactly the right moments to subvert expectations. At times the premise borders on the outrageous, but the novel keeps its emotional core throughout, exploring themes of friendship, reinvention, and quiet desperation.

"The Retirement Plan" has been compared to "The Thursday Murder Club" and that comparison is apt. Fans of darkly comic crime fiction will relish this novel with its entertaining blend of suspense, satire, and sardonic wisdom.

This was a delightful chaotic cozy mystery, and I had a blast reading this. It’s a wildly funny, slightly unhinged story about a group of friends in their 60s, who are all facing struggling marriages and empty bank accounts. When one of their husbands dies and leaves behind a million-dollar insurance policy, the friends can’t help but wonder—what if they could retire rich too? Cue the absolutely bonkers plan to hire a hitman to off their husbands... completely unaware that their spouses might be plotting something of their own.

The antics are ridiculous in the best way, and I found myself cackling through most of it. The dynamic between the four women reminded me so much of my own friend group—equal parts love, chaos, and unrelenting honesty. If you’re looking for something light, laugh-out-loud funny, and a little off the rails, this is the perfect cozy caper.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader's copy in return for my honest review.

This was a fun read. It kept me giggling and wondering what was next. The characters were also fun and I liked how the story unfolded. At times I felt like the pacing was a bit off but it kept me intersted.

This story is a wild ride, darkly funny, sharp, and full of unexpected twists. It follows four middle-aged women whose visions of a dream retirement unravel in the most unexpected ways. Just as they're adjusting to a not-so-perfect reality, a mysterious death throes everything into chaos. And while the women are sorting through secrets and surprises, their husbands have some shady retirement plans of their own.

Witty, fast-paced, and full of clever turns, this book kept me hooked from start to finish. A thoroughly entertaining read!

The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs is a darkly funny debut novel with relatable characters and a fun and quirky premise.

Pam, Nancy, Marlene, and Shalisa have been friends for thirty years. Along with their husbands, they have formed a tight knit friends group and have weathered some pretty tough times. Including that time when all of the husbands put all of their savings into an investment deal that quickly went belly up. Now that the couple's retirement plans have gone down the drain, tensions are escalating and the littlest thing (like leftover pad Thai) can set off a chain reaction. After one of the husbands is found dead under his garage door, all chaos breaks loose. The men have some secrets they have been hiding and it seems like someone knows too much. And the women.. well let's just say that their retirement plans didn't originally call for a hitman, but as they say desperate times call for desperate measures.

This book was non-stop fun!! I loved the idea of the plot when I read the summary and the book delivered that and more! Sarcastically funny, Hincenbergs debut novel is kind of a mix of Golden Girls and the cat and mouse action of Mr. and Mrs. Smith with a miscommunication trope that I am here for!! The story is fast-paced and the characters are fully fleshed out, a little unhinged but relatable. The plot is over the top in the very best way! Overall, a great debut and I can't wait to see what Sue Hincenbergs comes up with next!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Sue Hincenbergs, and William Morrow for this ARC!! Publication date is May 6th 2025.

Now this is what i want when i want to read a 'thriller'. i attempted to guess what was going on a few times, and i was like 'oh' when something on the whole other side of the spectrum happened. (and now the incoming "i knew it all along" comments... jk)

I liked all the characters; they were written different enough for me to tell who was who. i even felt bad for each of them at some point, the reasoning behind some of the 'major' problems the couples had, i was like dang dude when they were brought up. the ending <3

the only problem i had, and this is why it's 4 stars, the chapter breaks were extremely jarring. sometimes it was like it changed chapters mid-sentence, and usually no reason to even end a chapter yet it had ended. takes away from the story in my opinion.

This was a fun book to read. Four couples always have fun together. The guys go boating together, the girls hand out together and they all go out and party together. Then one of the eight dies in a freak accident. But was it an accident? The guys had lost all their retirement money in a get rich quick scheme. They are thinking of different ways to get money and they become a little paranoid about it. The girls are rightfully upset to not be living in the luxury they were used to. After Dave dies, Marlene gets his one million dollar insurance policy and is living the high life now. When the other wives realize that their husbands also have million dollar insurance policies, they decide that maybe they should die also. So the fun starts. It has a lot of different twists and turns and is so very funny. There is the barber Hector and his wife Brenda. Hector is more that a barber. He may be the guy you go to to get things done. Dave and Paul work at the casino where there is a lot of money. The different antics they they embark on is a delight to read. If only the couples could communicate with each other, things could have been a lot different but not so much fun! I highly recommend this great book.
Thanks to #netgalley, #williammorrow and @hincenbergs for an ARC of this fun read. All opinions are my own.

The Retirement plan is a dark comedy mystery debut novel by Sue Hinceberg. The story follows best friends of thirty years, Pam, Nancy, Shalisa, and Marlene are planning for the perfect retirement, too bad their husbands gambled away their retirement funds. Until one day when Marlenes, husband dies leaving her a million dollar life insurance policy. The women now realize their retirement plan, now involves a hitman. Little do the women know that their husbands have a new retirement scheme that is back firing. This leads to hijinks and miscommunication. This was an interesting concept for a book-it felt very Golden Girls meets Ocean 11 meets Horrible bosses. It did take me awhile to get into the writing style, it was multiple POVS, went from Pams to Hanks (Pams husband) to Hector(hitman) to Padma (casino boss). Once I did get used to the writing style to did keep my attention and I had to keep reading til the end. There was times where I did laugh out loud. One of my complaints, was I think there was too many storylines, like Padma’s match making, that affected the flow. Thanks NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

What a delightful read! It was so refreshing to read a book with mature main characters. The author has also flawlessly captured the ups and downs that go along with being married, although maybe minus the murder.

Highly entertaining the whole way through!
I can’t wait to read more from Sue Hincenbergs.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

This was a funny, darkly humorous, and fast-paced story full of twists and turns.

It follows four middle-aged women who dreamed of perfect retirement plans—plans that didn’t quite go as expected. Then a mysterious death changes everything. Meanwhile, their husbands have retirement plans of their own.

Overall, I found it to be an entertaining and engaging read.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the advance reader’s copy.

Oh this is a clever one! Dave's death under his garage door sets off a panic for his pal Hank because Dave has been jigging the computers at the casino where they both work. Dave's widow Marlene is surprised and thrilled that he left a $1 million insurance policy, which sets her pals Pam, Nancy, and Shalisa to thinking as none of them are happy in their marriages. They head to Hector to kill their husbands even as Hank approaches him to kill whoever is coming after him. At the same time Padma, who runs the casino is dealing with her mother and then with the horrible man sent to recoup the losses from the casino. And then the boat with the husbands blows up and the wives discover the husbands canceled the insurance policy. There's more to each character than it first appears and they're terrific (I especially liked Hector and his wife Brenda) . And the twists! Right up to the last page. Thanks to the publisher for the arc. This is funny, it's sharply observed, and it's a page turner that will keep you guessing. Great debut-looking forward to more from Hincenbergs.

Imagine dreaming of your retirement only to find out that your retirement savings are gone due to bad investments. This is what happens to four couples. When one of the husbands, Dave, dies the group learns that Dave had a million dollar life insurance policy and so do each of their husbands.. Now things get interesting because the other wives, Pam, Shalisa, and Nancy decide to collect on their respective husbands' policies. The women hire a hit man, Hector, a barber from El .Salvador to do the deed. I should mention that the husbands also have a plan in place that involves the casino where they work and Hector.

This book is alot of fun. It is told in a number of POVs. The story keeps moving along with twists and turns along the way. The characters are well written and the dialogue is hilarious. I loved Elmer, the dog. I can see this play out on a
TV streamer. I hope that Sue Hincenbergs has more stories for us.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, William Morrow Books, for an ARC. The review is my own.

📚 ARC BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Retirement Plan
By Sue Hincenbergs
Publication Date: May 6, 2025
Publisher: William Morrow

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
(Rounded Up To 5⭐)

Thank you so much to William Morrow and Sue Hincenbergs for sending me a #gifted ARC copy of this book, and to NetGalley for this e-ARC, in exchange for my honest review!

📚MY REVIEW:

Brilliantly funny, The Retirement Plan is a fabulously twisty cat-and-mouse thriller that kept me guessing until the very end. Not only did this read keep me entertained, but I laughed out loud non-stop with the comments and banter between these genuinely relatable characters. If you're a fan of authentically-written middle-aged characters, you're going to LOVE this read as much as I did!

After 30 years of friendship, Pam, Nancy, Shalisa, and Marlene dream of the perfect retirement with their husbands—until their husbands pool their funds for an investment that goes terribly wrong. Suddenly, their golden years look as dreary as their marriages.
But then the women discover their husbands have seven-figure life insurance policies, and come up with a new plan: a hitman. However, the hubbies are working on their own secret retirement scheme, but things go awry and they fear it’s backfired. Who will outwit who first... and survive?

Oh my goodness, did this book make me laugh! It's sarcastic, it's witty, and it had me loving the antics of its characters. The Retirement Plan is the sarcastic comedy of "The Golden Girls," with the decades-long female friendships of "80 for Brady," and the secret cat-and-mouse plotlines of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." And fans of miscommunication tropes -- you're in for a treat because miscommunication is at every turn!

The only minor gripe I had was the character of Padma and the storyline involving her matchmaking Indian mother...While I understood the peripheral connection, I really didn't feel it added much of anything to the book, and I would've preferred to stick with the main storylines about the couples and their crazy plans. But it certainly didn't hamper my overall enjoyment within these pages!

Reading the acknowledgements, I loved learning that this was Hincenbergs's debut novel, and I was so inspired to learn she wrote it in her sixties because she always wanted to "someday" write a book! Considering this is only her first published book, I certainly can't wait to see what she gives us next. If you're looking for a darkly funny thriller that will have you chuckling as you turn the pages, you simply must give The Retirement Plan a read. Coming May 6th!

#TheRetirementPlan #SueHincenbergs #WilliamMorrow #gifted #ARC #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #bookreviews #bookrecs #MUSTREADS #thrillerlover #thrilleraddict #darkhumor #catandmousethriller #womensfiction #booklover #bookaddict

4.5⭐️

"The Retirement Plan" is a delightful and cozy mystery. This book is a hoot! If you are a fan of Finlay Donovan or the Thursday Murder Club series, then you will love this book. I had so much fun reading it and could not stop laughing. The plot is just ridiculous enough to make it an enjoyable and entertaining read. The story is fast-paced and lighthearted, and the characters are lovable and just a tad unhinged. I could definitely see this becoming a movie or TV series. Highly recommend it, especially by the pool or beach this summer with a drink in hand!

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy thru NetGalley and thoroughly enjoyed it. A funny story about husbands and wives, in their older years and how both sides want to get rid of each other. & enjoy their retirement. Lots of laughing. How it all unfolded was so good and not expected. I loved the ending.

I don't have much to say about this book because I DNF'd in about 10% of the way through. It just wasn't for me. The writing style wasn't entertaining and I didn't like any of the characters (male or female). I was hoping it would have some snappy dialogue or a bit more comedy to it, but it wasn't charming and I didn't connect to it at all.

🪦 Retirement Schemes Run Amok: Where's the Fun? 🚫

From the moment I picked up *The Retirement Plan* by Sue Hincenbergs, I was ready for a juicy dark comedy full of unexpected twists and moral ambiguity. What I got instead was a parade of unlikeable characters who seemed more intent on annoying me than engaging me.

I expected to root for someone, anyone, in this comedic battle of wits between husbands and wives. But as the plot unfolded, I found myself indifferent to both sides—hoping almost that these characters might just meet their end together. The husbands' and wives' schemes were so ludicrously unbelievable that it became impossible to take any of their antics seriously.

The plot twisted and turned, yet none of these twists seemed to serve any meaningful purpose. It felt less like riding a thrilling rollercoaster and more like bobbing along a chaotic river without a paddle. I wanted to find humor in the chaos, but with characters as irredeemable as these, my empathetic fatigue set in way before the final showdown.

The only saving grace was Elmer the dog. In a narrative swirling with human folly, Elmer was the one character I could genuinely cheer for. Unfortunately, his charm couldn’t salvage the rest of the book.

By the time I finished, I was left wondering how a book filled with such potential ended up missing the mark so completely for me. Perhaps tighter plotlines and more relatable characters would have struck a better balance. If you’re a fan of dark comedy, heed my caution: this might test your tolerance more than your humor. 📚

Thank you William Morrow for this arc.

I requested this because I thought it looked like fun. It turned out to be a book that did what I love best, kept me guessing – well, mostly – until the end. It could have twisted in so many ways and is so good I finished reading the last 250 pages in one day in massive gulps, hanging on for the ride.

There are plot flips and a ton of morally gray people. I liked and disliked most of them, hated a few, cheered when certain things happened, worried about who was going to make it through to the end of the book, changed my opinion about people a time or three, and waited to understand why some of them did and said what they did. I read another advanced review that said if these couples had talked to each other a bit more, a lot of misunderstandings would have been avoided but then the book wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.

I loved seeing the older couples who had wrinkles, slight paunches, hair loss, lives spent together, and those annoyances that come from thirty plus years of marriage. There is a lot of really dark humor which might be more than readers are looking for. Mistakes are made based on that sketchy communication about important things and the results set off a chain reaction that keeps the story moving and the tempo fast.


There’s a lot of heart in the story. My favorite couple from the book are not in the initial friend group. Instead it’s a man who “gets things done” and also lives by the credo of “happy wife, happy life” and the woman he chose who changed his life. There’s also a lovable mixed breed dog, Elmer.

The book flipped and twisted more than an Olympic diver from the ten meter platform. Would the dive end in a splashless finish or a belly flop? I could guess at a few things but even getting those correct still left me unsure about major events. Some shit goes down and hard truths must be faced and examined. Remember morally gray. Is this a realistic book? Nah. Or at least I hope not. But it’s entertaining as heck and hard to believe that it’s a debut effort. I look forward to more to come. A-

The only thing more dangerous than a man with a bad investment scheme is a wife with nothing left to lose — and in “The Retirement Plan,” there are three of them, and it's surprising how easily they find a hitman. Sue Hincenbergs’ debut is more “Golden Girls” than “Gone Girl” — a murder plot wrapped in a comedy of errors, soaked in margaritas, and held together with a box of donuts. These women aren’t here to solve crimes. They’re here to create them. And while they’re no one’s idea of cold-blooded killers, they’ve hit the end of their patience, their budgets, and their tolerance for mediocre husbands — and honestly? I get it.

We start with four lifelong best friends: Pam, Nancy, Shalisa, and Marlene. Their less than impressive husbands flushed away the retirement fund five years ago on a garbage fire investment, and things have been rotting ever since. The big catalyst? Marlene’s husband Dave dies — in their garage — in what might be a freak accident... or might be a mob hit. Either way, Marlene cashes a massive life insurance check and bounce-moves to Boca Raton like a queen. That’s when the rest of the women find out their husbands took out identical million-dollar policies. Retirement Plan 2.0? Kill the husbands.

Enter Hector. Barber by day, part-time hitman by necessity, and the only person in this book who knows how to actually execute a plan — literally and metaphorically. He gets approached by both the wives and the husbands, and instead of turning one down like a normal assassin with boundaries, he decides to double-dip the murder contract and figure it out later. It’s morally questionable, logistically nightmarish, and 100% on brand. Hector is jaded, efficient, and — plot twist — kind. Especially to Elmer (the dog), which tells you everything you need to know about his soul. He peppers his conversations with movie quotes like a man trying to stay amused while the world burns around him, and somehow, it works. And the real kicker? His wife is just as sharp, grounded, and emotionally intelligent as he is. Together, they’re the stealth power couple of this whole mess. Honestly, if the book were just about the two of them, I’d preorder an entire series.

Then there’s Padma, the newly minted casino boss with a mob-matriarch mother who treats emotional manipulation like an Olympic event. Padma wants independence, success, and maybe a sliver of actual respect — but instead of setting boundaries, she keeps folding herself into smaller and smaller shapes, hoping her mother might finally say something kind that isn’t transactional. She’s polished on the outside, unraveling underneath, and constantly contorting herself for approval that’s never coming. And yet, there’s something deeply satisfying about watching her realize — slowly, painfully — that she doesn’t have to keep playing nice. Her arc isn’t the loudest in the book, but it hits hard in all the right places.

And the husbands? Their secret retirement plan is surprisingly solid — they’ve managed to rig casino slot machines to pay out just enough under the radar to skim real money without triggering alarms. It’s actually clever. The problem is they’re not clever enough to keep their cool. As the stakes rise, so does their collective blood pressure, and watching them try to handle the fallout is like watching a group of dads sweat through a middle school talent show. They’ve pulled off the hard part; now they’re just too paranoid, guilty, and emotionally stunted to see it through without imploding. Add in a casino boss with mob ties (hi, Padma) and a barber-hitman who’s already double-booked, and yeah — it’s not looking great for team testosterone.

This book runs on chaos math: miscommunication times coincidence, divided by how-many-people-you-can-trust, multiplied by Elmer the dog, raised to the power of “why is everyone trying to commit murder at the same time?” And let’s take a minute for Elmer — because he deserves it. He watches. He judges. He knows. He’s the furry Greek chorus to everyone’s suburban breakdown — dragged into the mess but never lowering himself to participate in the nonsense. Honestly? Every belly rub he gets, he earned. And if you finish this book and you’re not fully Team Elmer, I don’t trust your judgment.

Let’s be real, this whole plot could’ve been avoided if even one of these couples had tried therapy or learned to communicate like functional adults. But where’s the fun in that? What we get instead is a glorious mess of missed signals, midlife desperation, and weapons-grade side-eye. It’s chaos by design — and watching these women, fed up and underestimated, spiral into a murder-adjacent meltdown is wildly satisfying.

Is it messy? Absolutely. Twisty? Delightfully. Fun? Mostly. “The Retirement Plan” is a laugh-out-loud, wine-spitting 3.5-star ride — the literary equivalent of realizing your group chat could land you in court and still choosing the group chat every time.

Whodunity Award: Lifetime Achievement Award in Remaining Unbothered to Elmer, the Dog

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this one! I thought it was so funny at times about the story itself was great. Two women, who are best friends, hatch a plan to murder their significant others. Little do they know, their husbands have a plan of their own. I thought this book was very entertaining and easy to read. I could see this being a movie.