“Three wives wanting a new life, three husbands in their way…What follows is a high-stakes tale of cat and mouse, both laugh-out-loud funny and unbearably tense, while ultimately a bighearted look at marriage, friendship, and middle-age.”
The Retirement Plan, Sue Hincenbergs
There’s nothing quite like a miscommunication-filled heist to really grab my interest. Throw in a few wives so angry with their husbands that they’re willing to kill them, and I’m a happy, happy girl.
The Retirement Plan features four couples who’ve been friends for decades. A few years ago, the four husbands went all in on a bad investment and lost all of their retirement savings. The wives have been furious for years, pinching pennies and living well below the means they’re accustomed to.
When one of the husbands dies in a freak accident, his million-dollar life insurance policy is revealed, along with matching ones for the other men. The three wives decide that they’re unhappy enough in their marriage to have dead husbands and a cool mil each, so they secretly hire a hitman. Simultaneously, the men have secretly been committing a white collar crime to make back their lost savings, and are terrified their friend was killed as a warning.
The whole series of events had me cackling. The POVs switch between Pam and Hank, the main husband and wife, Hector, Hank’s barber turned potential bodyguard, and Padma, Hank’s new boss at the casino. Each character is well-developed and unique, with great dynamics between the entire cast. The dueling POVs of the husbands and the wives is hysterical, and their little quips made even the tensest scenes hysterical!
I’d recommend this to anyone who loves heists, murders-gone-wrong, and bickering spouses. If you love watching 9 to 5 or Ocean’s Eleven, this is the perfect book for you!
Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
Read with Fern 
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