"Pam licked her margarita salt from her lips, looked around her backyard table and wondered which of her friends would die first."

From the opening of this book I was hooked. And surprised. What I expected from the opening was not delivered! This isn't a bad thing.

After a slump in their marriages following some recent bad financial decisions made by their husbands, Pam, Nancy and Shalisa come to the conclusion that their lives would be better off in every aspect if their husbands were dead.

So what did they do about it? They hired a hitman. Of course!

What followed was a myriad of twists, turns, laughs and adventure. I truly fell for the characters, and laughed out loud at times.

The whole time I was thinking, this would make an absolutely fantastic Netflix series ..... Netflix, are you listening?

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. My review is truthful, and this did not affect my opinion of the book.

The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs is a magnificent debut.

You know when you see a synopsis and you get tingles? You just know the book is going to have you literally howling with laughter and at the same time will tangle you up in a spectacular, glittering mesh of a storyline that tracks you to the centre for the final bite? Well The Retirement Plan is just this and was every bit as good as I thought and then some

Seriously? Is this really a debut?? Imagine the Golden Girls meets Columbo, gives Murder She Wrote the side eye, has a scrap with Miami Vice and joins up with Brooklyn Nine-Nine for sheer comedy/ mystery brilliance with a heart

Are you taking applications? This is a band of ladies that are your ride or die and who will either drive, or bring the shovel

Seriously, I devoured this book because it was just that good! Pre-order, add to your tbr, put it on your preferred holiday/ birthday/ any reason wish list, buy it, loan ot from the library. Any which way you choose, this book will give you a happy face and aching ribs from laughing. Loved it

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK | Sphere and the author, Sue Hincenbergs for this incredible ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

We meet four couples and good friends: Pam and Hank, Marlene and Dave, Shalisa and Andre, and Nancy and Larry.
Ever since the men lost their savings in a bad investment, their marriages were far from happy. But when one of the husbands dies, the three men left think he's been murdered because of their latest money-making con. It spirals into a chain of events that includes hitmen, death, and mayhem.
I started with such enthusiasm for this book, but it took me a while to get into it. It wasn't until chapter 15 that I started to enjoy it. It's a slow burner, and I didn't connect with the characters, but I think that's because of how many there are.
Once I did get into it, I enjoyed the misunderstandings and miscommunication that paved the way for a crazy ride.

When I requested tis book I was unsure whether I would enjoy I would enjoy it, as it was not my usual genre of book. However, once I started reading, I was hooked. There is so many twists and turns to this book but how it all panned out at the end was great. The characters were great and there were some comical moments too. Will definitely look out for this author i the future.

I do love a cosy, darkly funny story, and The Retirement Plan delivered. There were a lot of characters to learn at the beginning and it felt a bit overwhelming, but once I started to concentrate it got good. Give this one a try if you need a bit of a lift!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

First of all, how can I join these ladies? They are quite mad but loveable all the same and so funny. The Golden Girls is a fairly apt description!
The Retirement Plan follows the fabulous Pam, Nancy, Shalisa and Marlene, four good friends whose lives take a turn for the unexpected when their husbands made a particularly poor investment 4 years ago. Now, instead of planning their glorious retirements, they are planning on working for another decade. Then tragedy and one of their husband's dies and our quartet realise there is a lot of money in their insurance. And this is where the fun and shenanigans start.
While the surviving husbands fear mobsters, the wives are plotting murder and becoming the Golden Girls! This is an intricately plotted and hilarious storyline - I was laughing out loud on the bus and their antics and wry observations on life, love and financial dependence. Plus, there is an adorable doggy called Elmer!

4.25/5⭐️

Pam, Nancy, Shalisa and Marlene were on track for a great retirement until their husbands lost their savings in a dodgy investment deal. Now they are putting retirement into their own hands.

This was an entertaining book & I enjoyed it. There were lots of miscommunication & oops moments ( consequences) but the ending was cute!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
#TheRetirementPlan

This was a great story with so many twists and turns as to who was doing what and when! Really enjoyed it and it was fun in a weird way!

I absolutely loved this book, I would love to see this get a screen adaptation. The opening line of this book was all I needed to know I would enjoy this...

"Pam licked her margarita salt from her lips, looked around her backyard table and wondered which of her friends would die first."

This has more twists and turns than a drive up a mountain. I was hooked!

Thanks to NetGalley and Sphere for this ARC. All views are my own and honest.

This was such a fun read and reminded me a lot of the series bad Sisters....

Pam, Nancy, Shalisa and Marlene are making plans to murder their husband but they may be thwarted by the plans the husbands have of their own

I loved this book .. it is murder and mayhem filled with dark and comedic moments and I already want to read it again.

It is a book that fills the void of a weekend with no plans..

4.5 stars from me.

A highly entertaining story of marital misunderstandings and miscommunication between four sets of friends. Pam, Nancy, Shalisa and Marlene were on track for a wonderful retirement until their husbands lost their savings in a dodgy investment deal. When Marlene's husband Dave dies, they find out their husbands each have a million dollar life insurance deal - the only thing standing inbetween the women and $1,000,000 is their husbands. They start plotting a hit on the husbands - but in the meantime the husbands are hatching their own money making schemes.

Lots of wild misunderstandings and unintended consequences make this a very entertaining read!

I don’t tend to read the lighter, funnier types of thriller so I am definitely not the target audience.

I would say the story is solid, there’s some times where you’ll need to suspend disbelief. I think this will appeal to the Richard Osman crowd, while it’s light it has substance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC

A hilarious novel. If you liked the Thursday Murder Club I think you'll enjoyed it. Our elderly gang doesn't solve murder, quite the opposite but it has a cast of spunk characters and witty humor. The characters were interesting and the story full of twist. Highly enjoyable and fun!

A very funny and clever novel.
Fabulously written storyline with some very interesting characters.
A joy to read.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for this ARC.

Pam, Nancy, Shalisa and Marlene are firm friends, as are their husbands Hank, Larry, Andre and Dave. Unfortunately, a few years ago, the husbands lost their life savings by investing in a sure bet that, well, wasn't. Since then, the marriages have been under strain as their retirement plans have changed.

One day, Dave dies suddenly in a freak accident in his garage. At least the police think it was an accident - his pals know it was murder. They were embezzling the casino where two of them work on a grand scale, and the casino owners are linked to organised crime from India. Now they are all frightened for their lives and begging their barber, Hector, who moonlights as a hitman, to kill whoever is after them.

They don't realise that their wives have as their own retirement plan an eye on the one million dollars life insurance policies that Marlene got as a payout and the others have too, and that they also know that Hector "gets done what needs doing."

This is a gloriously complicated story where everyone misunderstands everything, and in the middle is Hector, the barber and his loving wife Brenda, just trying to do what's best for them. And rescue dog Elmer who gets in everyone's way.

The reader often knows more than the characters and can see the wrong conclusions being made and foolish paths taken.
The women are generally more switched on than the men, but Padma, the casino's young and diminutive President of Operations whose mother belongs to the organised crime cartel, is distracted by a matchmaking exercise her mother more or less bullies her into and which our trio of hapless men misunderstand as hitmen flying in from India.

This is a very assured debut novel with a good pace and no boring bits. The twists and turns are deliciously funny and seeing the characters stumble about and come to wrong conclusions is hilarious, as are Padma's matchmaking attempts in all the chaos. Who cares about recovering nine million dollars if you can find love and thumb your nose at your critical mother?

Highly recommended if you like novels about long-standing relationships where frustrations boil over ("He ate my Pad Thai!") and you dither between wanting to hug your partner or kill them. The ending, the epilogue and the post script are great - every novel should end with the words "My wife was right"!

4.5 stars

Good book, kept me reading throughout, not too keen on the third person narrative but this is a personal preference