The Retirement Plan
A Novel
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4.1 • 41 Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER | Longlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
In order to collect on their husbands’ life insurance policies, three middle-aged friends turn to murder—unaware that their husbands have a devious plan of their own, in this darkly funny debut perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club and Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
Meet three wives who want a new life, and three husbands who are in their way . . .
After thirty years of friendship, Pam dreams of her perfect retirement with Nancy, Shalisa, Marlene, and their husbands—until the husbands pool their funds in an investment that goes terribly wrong. With their dreams of beachfront condos and a sunny, carefree retirement shattered, the women’s golden years are looking as dreary as their marriages.
Then one of the husbands dies in a freak accident and the other three women are shocked to see their friend rebound with a huge life insurance payout and a new life in Florida. In the aftermath, the three discover that their husbands have identical, seven-figure life insurance policies. A new dream begins to take form, and this time it involves a hitman.
Meanwhile, the remaining husbands have a secret retirement plan of their own. But when things begin to go awry, they fear their own scheme may have backfired . . . with deadly consequences. The husbands scramble to stay alive, but they may not be fast enough to outmanoeuvre their wives.
What follows is a high-stakes tale of cat and mouse that is both laugh-out-loud funny and unbearably tense and, ultimately, a big-hearted look at friendship, marriage, and middle age.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Canadian TV producer Hincenbergs delivers a sure-footed and deeply funny debut that revolves around a group of friends in their 60s. Five years before the start of the novel, couples Pam and Hank, Shalisa and Andre, Nancy and Larry, and Marlene and Dave lost their life savings in the same misguided investment. In the aftermath, each partner's seldom voiced resentments have put major strains on their marriages. When Dave dies in an apparent accident, his friends are distraught—particularly the husbands. For the last four years, they've been siphoning money from the casino where two of them work with the intention of replacing the money they lost. To them, Dave's death could only be a murder orchestrated by the casino's new boss, who has ties to organized crime in India. The wives, meanwhile, are inspired by the million-dollar life insurance payout Dave's widow, Marlene, receives, and launch a scheme of their own. Readers will turn the pages with glee as the interests of the desperate husbands and determined wives collide with a pack of Mumbai gangsters and a dog-loving private investigator. Hincenbergs knocks it out of the park on her first time at bat.
Customer Reviews
Very entertaining read!
This was a great first novel. The plot moved along quickly with lots of twists and turns, and plenty of humour. It’s great to have a novel where all the protagonists are of “a certain age.” The book does what it sets out to do - entertain the reader. I hope to read more from Sue Hincenbergs soon.