This is a book that definitely lived up to the blurb and I am so pleased that I decided to read The Retirement Plan. I read it straight after reading a much more serious and well written family drama which was going to be a really hard act to follow. I needed to read a completely different type of book and this was just right.
Th story centres around four couples in their 60’s, lifelong friends who have a nice nest egg for their retirement dream. Pam, Nancy, Shalisa and Marlene like to compare themselves to the Golden Girls and when their husbands Hank, Larry, Andre and Dave invest and lose their retirement money in a hare-brained adventure they are totally deflated and angry. When Marlene’s husband dies in an accident and they realise that she has the benefit of life insurance of a million dollars it isn’t long before they all decide that widowhood might be a good idea for them all especially as they find out that all the husbands took out the same life policy.
I won’t spoil the story by saying more about the plot but this book was so funny it had me laughing out loud so much and was a joy to read. Imagine a barber/hitman in a quandary; the boss of a casino in the throes of trying to get to the bottom of inside theft whilst negotiating her mother’s match making and some very nervous husbands who need to disappear and you have mayhem ensuing that makes a most entertaining story. I loved it! Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

I was glued to this book. It is funny, with believable characters, and never-ending twists and turns. I enjoyed reading it immensely.

This was a fabulous book, which will really work for fans of Jesse Sutanto's Dial A or Vera Wong series. A fun, wry look at what happens when husbands and wives contract the same hit man to kill each other. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and can see it being a big hit this summer.

I really enjoyed reading this book. So many plot changes and twists. Just when you thought you knew what was going on, turn the page and everything had changed. In the end I could not put this book down. Very happy with the ending.

A group of forward thinking women realise they can retire somewhere nice and say goodbye to their dull and troubled lives if it wasn’t for their husbands. Commence ‘Operation Husbands’ and what ensues is a twisted tale of events -are the husbands suspicious? Would anyone know they were planning to kill them? An entertaining book. I highly recommend reading this.

I really could not get into this book. I tried several times. Why 60 something women are using the F-word so liberally beats me. Unappealing characters and a plot that just didn't get going.

Grateful ARC recipient here.

Loved his book. A funny tale, well-paced and full of misunderstandings, centred around people at a stage in life where they could expect to be written off but who are far from ready for that.

Really enjoyable read that I didn't want to put down and was sorry to finish.

There are plenty of novels about hits and hitmen but not many which include more than a couple of contracts. However, this complex and entertaining novel has at least eight, as well as several retirement plans – hence the title!

Hank, Larry, Dave and Andre have been married for far too long and are planning to separate from their wives in a fairly direct and terminal way. The wives, Pam, Nancy, Marlene, and Shalisha have been having the same thoughts after Dave is found dead, crushed by his garage door.

Money is at the heart of this. The men have a profitable scam running and the women have found out about their life insurance policies, but their first mistake is choosing the same hitman!

Meanwhile, there is a casino which is run by an organised crime syndicate in India, there are a series of crucial misunderstandings, and the husbands and wives start to think that perhaps their partners weren’t that bad after all.

Several coincidences help the story work out but how it happens is, firstly, funny and, secondly, inclined to make you think about life and what you should perhaps put up with along the way! The final message is that it is probably good not to get involved with organised crime if you want to stay alive.

It’s very American and within the plot it thinks about the film version, when the wives discuss who they would like to play them while they are serving long jail sentences! However, it’s a lively read and might lead to some entertaining book club discussions about possible endings for partners as well as books!

This is very different to my usual choice of dark thrillers and I'm so happy I tried it.

A comic take on murdering your annoying husband(s). It does venture into slapstick occasionally but on the whole a very funny read. I love Elmer too.

This would make a great netflix mini series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC which was very much appreciated.

A really funny story about 4 couples in their 60s whose husbands lose their retirement money in an investment that goes bust, The wives, who are good friends try to kill their husbands for the insurance money after one of them loses her husband and gets rich. While the husbands who are neck deep in a different scam are afraid for their lives because they think they've been caught in the scam, and are trying to protect their lives. Of course everything was chaotic.

This was an enjoyable light read. It was difficult to keep up with the different characters at first but it got easier as I got into the story. I also quite liked reading about more mature characters and their struggles with marriage, societal image, worrying about retirement etc.

This is a perfect book for a book club with people of different ages.

A group of friends are becoming increasingly fed up with their husbands who have lost money in risky investments, and decided they have had enough.

The book is filled with humour and enjoyable to read, although with having so many characters it took a couple of chapters before I became invested in the story. Told mainly by Pam, she reluctantly agrees with the others that she would be better off without her husband Hank, and the women hire a hitman to do the dirty deed. Hector barber/hitman, is the ‘guy who does something that needs doin’, and chosen by the women.

The story’s strength lies mainly in its characters, a mix of resentful women in their 60s, Hector, Padma, the Indian boss of the casino where Hank works, and Elmer, the dog. All, so well written, their characters leap off the page. Full of misunderstandings comprising a laugh out loud plot, which I found hilarious at times.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this complex, over the top story, and feel it would make a great movie. Recommended.

I'm really disappointed to say I found this book really hard going. It's strange, because it's a great story, with lots of twists and turns, but it just didn't pull me in to not wanting to put it down. In fact, it took me almost two weeks to finish it, which is unheard of for me.

Favourite Quote
"Pam couldn’t tell if she was shaking it no, nodding yes, or having a stroke."

An enjoyable book! The plot starts with the death of their friend and the misconception of how it happened and what it means for them all. The misinterpretation of actions as well as the background of the husbands all investing badly and losing money makes the book quite a farce as you're not sure who is going to do something of the wrong reasons.
Hector and his wife move between them all and become entwined in their lives from all directions.
All you were hoping for was a happy ending.

I was asked by NetGalley to review- wow what a romp of a read this was hillarious and totally bonkers but what a read.!
Three middle aged friends, murder for insurance policies as their husbands have lost pensions due to dodgy deals! what could possibly go wrong and is there more to this than meets the eye- husbands seem to be up to something.

So many twists and turns - recommended fun read on a bleak February afternoon.

When some 60+ year old women decide to murder their husbands a dark crime story begins! When I read the synopsis of this story I was really looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I found there were parts of the book that my mind wandered and I couldn't completely engage. However, there were also some darkly funny moments and a nice twist at the end. I think this book may appeal more to women.

Unexpectedly I really enjoyed this , and I say unexpectedly because I wasn’t sure that I would. I normally prefer books set in England or beautiful sunny parts of Europe but the plot of this appealed to me and I wasn’t disappointed. Exceedingly well written, great storyline, and a wonderful cast of characters, it really was a most enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

Four couples; Hank and Pam, Marlene and Dave, Nancy and Larry, Shalisa and Andre have been friends forever. However, their marriages all took a turn for the worse after the husbands made a failed investment, and they were all struggling for money. However, unbeknownst to the wives, the men have found a way to try to recoup their losses by defrauding the casino where both Dave & Hank worked. Four years later, and they are ready to end the fraud as they had made enough money to cover their losses.
One day, Dave is found dead in his garage, with an axe in his hand, and a casino chip placed on his chest. The other 3 men panic, thinking that the casino has discovered their plan, and have had Dave murdered as a warning.
This triggers a chain of events that will have you on the edge of your seat, and will certainly keep you turning those pages.
I absolutely loved this book, and will keep my eyes peeled for more from this author.

I really wanted to like this one. Loved the premise of four 60+ women plotting to kill their husbands and live the lives they dream of.
After a great start,with lots of hilarity and big characters, I struggled to finish and just wanted them to get on with doing the deed. Maybe it could have been more tightly edited and reduced in length to keep the plot nicely paced. Would make a great TV comedy drama serial though. But as a novel it was not for me, sorry.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an early copy of this novel.

The premise of this novel really intrigued me; elderly women choosing to kill their good for nothing husbands? I'm in! At the start, I enjoyed the writing, thought the characters were fleshed out, but then near the 20% mark the book fell a bit flat for me, which continued till about the 60% mark after which i became interested in the story again. Overall a good read, but unfortunately this wont be making it to my faves of the year list

What a brilliant book. I was hooked from the very first page. The close relationship between four women and their respective husbands is full of ups and downs. The women have the usual issues with asking their respective husbands to do things at home and eventually they decide they've had enough.

Things take an hilarious turn when the women take out a contract to have their husbands bumped off and claim the insurance money.

Little do they know but their husbands are experiencing issues of their own and take out a contract against some casino mob bosses they believe are trying to kill them.

The story gets more complicated and even funnier with everyone not knowing just who is trying to kill who.

Laughed out loud at this story and loved it. I think it would make a great play or film. Satire and chaos at its very best. It's not often I give a book 5 stars but this one definitely deserves it.