Entertaining and delightfully ridiculous, Sue Hincenberg’s The Retirement Plan uses miscommunication as its major source of humor. Better talk to your wife about your issues, or she might well kill you. . .
It’s been years, but Pam is still mad at her husband, Hank, for losing all their cash in a bonehead investment scheme. When her friend’s husband dies due to a disobedient garage door, Pam’s sympathy quickly turns to envy when she learns the accident entitles Marlene as his widow to a million-dollar insurance payment. Soon Pam is scheming with her other friends in their tight-knit group–Shalisa and Nancy–over the pros and cons of whacking their husbands for the insurance cash. (At first, Pam is hesitant to such a scheme, but her attitude changes when Hank is lacks remorse for eating the Pad Thai she’s been saving).
Enter Hector, the local barber who “does what needs doing.” Borrowing the initial payment from Marlene, the three friends engage the stoic El Salvadoran to kill their husbands in an ostensible accident.
Meanwhile, Hank is sweating bullets over a fraud scheme he and his buddies–the other husbands–had used to relieve their casino employer of over nearly ten million dollars via the use of a faulty slot machine. The casino has recently changed hands, with new owner Indo-USA Gaming, Inc. installing nepo-baby Padma as the on-site boss. Having consulted Wikipedia and armed with the knowledge that Indo-USA has ties to Organized Crime in India, Hank is convinced that Dave’s death was no accident. He hires Hector for his protection, instructing Hector to find and kill whomever is trying to unalive him and his buddies.
That’s right. Hector is double-dipping, a term he notes reminds him of ice cream.
With this set-up in place, hilarity ensues. Particularly fun is any time Hank interacts with Padma. Dim-witted, dull, and shallow, Padma wears four-inch Louibitans to minimize her small stature even though they hurt her feet. Meanwhile, Hank mistakes her wincing and other facial tics as her sending him non-verbal warnings as to the imminent death that is to befall him. He is unaware that Parma’s mind is occupied only with resentment for her powerful mother’s constant delivery of “hard truths” and attempts to find Padma a suitable partner.
The entire book plays expertly with miscommunication–at one point, Pam thinks she’s having an earth-shattering conversation with Hank about what their lives have become. . . while Hank thinks they’re talking about the location of limes needed for margaritas. The wives don’t know their husbands appreciate them. The husbands are clueless to the issues left festering. It is all simply delightful.
It’s hard to believe the wives would make the decision to murder their husbands so cavalierly. Pam has a daughter who would miss Hank, but that thought never crosses her mind. Also, the f-bomb is dropped enough to fit a Quentin Tarantino movie rather than a cozy mystery. Still, the energy and unique elements of this excellent dark comedy caper featuring morally gray characters make The Retirement Plan one not to miss.
The Retirement Plan was released by William Morrow on May 6. Get it on Amazon here.
Sarah Reida only reviews books she overall recommends. A writer of dark comedy thrillers, she is in the process of revising her sophomore novel. Her debut, Neighborhood Watch, received a Kirkus Star and was honored as an Amazon editorial pick as one of the Best Books of the Year So Far 2024. Join Sarah’s elite group of Instagram followers here.
