Book Review - The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs

 The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Title: The Retirement Plan

Author: Sue Hincenbergs

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Sphere

Publication Date: 1st May 2025

Rating: 5 Stars

Their husbands are driving them mad, and murder is on their minds . . . but the men have a plan of their own.

Pam, Nancy and Shalisa once imagined retirement would mean setting aside their worries, picking up their margaritas, and lying back in a hot tub. Right up until their husbands lost all their savings in a reckless investment.

Now, collecting their husbands' life insurance is starting to sound more appealing than growing old with them. But enlisting the help of the local barber/hitman isn't merely the most daring thing the friends have ever done - it's also where the trouble really begins.

Because they don't realise their husbands have some tricks up their sleeves. And there's no turning back now . . .

From the first laugh to the final twist, The Retirement Plan is full of characters who will steal your heart while plotting their dark deeds.

Oh this was just brilliant and so entertaining. 

And I'm utterly surprised that it was a debut novel, it was just that good and accomplished. 

We have husbands hiring hitmen to protect themselves after one of their group dies, after all they are all hiding something major. 

We have wives plotting to kill husbands. 

There is a double dipping hitman with a fair bit of humanity too. 

Add in a dog, a lot of assumptions, a boss that is having to deal with a matchmaker and a mother, while trying to prove herself, and all sorts of miscommunications - and you have the recipe for one incredibly amusing, dark and twisted and just all around addictive book. 

I read this in one sitting, totally hooked on all the various goings on.  For the second we think we know exactly what is happening, something else is revealed and the truths as you know them are developed further with more layers. 

I think what is fairly safe to say is that Pam, Nancy and Shalisa are not totally happy in their marriages, and that all of their husbands are total schmucks! 

And to make this even better, the main characters, all good friends, are in their sixties.  This is golden age crime plotting at its very best. It's amusing and addictive and just an all around great read. 

Thank you to Sphere and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.