The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs
“Watching, Pam sensed something shift in the night air. As she cleared the dishes, she looked around the table at her husband and the friends they’d made three decades ago, and wondered again, which of them would die first.
“Two days later, she knew.”
Pam, Nancy, Shalisa, Marlene — four best friends in Sue Hincenbergs’ The Retirement Plan — looking forward to a comfortable later life, until their idiot husbands pool their life savings in a disastrous investment, and lose it all. To say they are disappointed would be an understatement — and then they discover the life insurance policies each man has taken out, and a new retirement plan is born. This one involves a hit man.
Hank, Larry, Andre, Dave — the idiot husbands, except what the wives don’t know is that they have their own retirement plan, and it involves the casino where two of them work. It’s ingenious, dangerous and could get them all killed. In fact, they’re beginning to worry that the new owners of the casino, a crime syndicate out of India, may be intending to do just that.
Throw into that mix Hector, a barber from El Salvador known for “doing what needs doing;” Padma, the new young boss of the casino, desperate to get out from under the shadow of her crime queen mother; and Farid, the man her mother sends to examine the books; and you have the recipe for one of the most surprising, twist-filled, suspenseful, heartfelt and laugh-out-loud novels of the year: so many rugs being pulled out from under so many feet — including the readers’.
“We can’t just Lucy and Ethel our way through this,” Nancy warns. “We have to be prepared.”
But Lucy and Ethel never faced anything like this.
“The idea came from two experiences,” says the author. “First … in your 30s, it seems everyone wants to know when you’re getting married or having kids. But when you get older the question changes. I was shocked the first time I was asked ‘when are you retiring?’ My first thought was: how old do you think I am? Then I realized they were also asking – how’s your bank account, and how’s your career? That made me think about the people who get to that stage of their lives and realize things haven’t worked out like they’d hoped — they don’t have the partner they’d dreamed of or the money they’ll need. They’re out of runway, so other than winning the lottery, how else can they turn things around?
“The Retirement Plan is the story of how a few couples faced those problems, although admittedly, both the husbands and wives in this novel were ‘outside the box’ thinkers.
“The second experience is, much like the characters in the novel, my husband and I made great friends when our boys were little and in sports. The kids are grown now, but those friendships have endured. One night not long before I started writing this, the other three couples were over for dinner. I looked around my kitchen table and remembered how sad it was when my parents’ friends started passing away. In that moment, I appreciated what we have, but I also saw how quickly this time of our lives could be over. I thought to myself, which of us will die first? And basically, that’s the first line of the book.
“From there I had to figure out what husbands could do that was so bad it could justify a wife wanting to kill them. Surprisingly, (and maybe luckily) that was harder than I thought.”
The characters weren’t far from her life, either. “I think the relationships are the heart of the book. Both the ones characters have with their spouses, and then with their friends. People tell me they find the marriages relatable. I think they identify with the way you can have an enduring love for someone but still be frustrated by little things. I find that in my own marriage. I love my husband, but, good God, why can’t he put his shoes in the closet?
“As well, I looked to those same friendships I mentioned earlier. We’ve been through thick and thin, but we don’t tiptoe around each other. There’s often some healthy teasing and bickering, but ultimately, we have each others’ backs.
“A major thing I share with Pam, is her dog. Funnily, I was almost finished with the first draft when it occurred to me, the story needed a dog. The villain essentially said, ‘I’m not a villain’, and I realized I needed to prove he was. Cue Elmer.
“I would love to say that Elmer and his quirks came from my imagination, but the truth is, I looked on the floor beside my chair, and there was my middle-aged, scruffy rescue dog, Kramer. Every dog detail in the book is Kramer. From how I got him, to missing teeth, to spitting out treats, to following conversations with his eyes and always finding the air conditioning. I live with Elmer every day.”
Her day job also provided inspiration and structure. Hincenbergs has had a long, successful career producing shows for Canadian television.
“I spent a good many years producing for morning television, and that included writing the scripts the hosts would read as they introduced the guests. We had to say a lot in 20 seconds. It had to be conversational and clear. I didn’t realize it until I was well into writing this book, but that experience served as an excellent training ground. It’s easy for me to look at a sentence and carve away unnecessary words, because I’ve spent years shaving seconds off scripts. Conversely, sometimes I have to allow myself to keep some extra words — for voice.
“I’ve always worked with deadlines. Either something had to be entered into the teleprompter within seconds or the host wouldn’t have anything to read, or a show was going to air in an hour, a day or a week. I’ve seldom been able to push something to later, and definitely not another day — because the show would be over. Even when I had a few weeks off in between shows and the intention of devoting that block of time to writing, I knew schedules could shift and that open time would be gone.
“That pushed me to make use of whatever time I had, whenever I had it.
“When I have full days to write, I approach them the same way I approached my day job. As soon as I’m out of bed, I start thinking about what I need to accomplish that day. I walk my dog for about 45 minutes, and I think about the scene I need to write. If I need a bit of an on-ramp, before we head outside, I might take a quick read of the last paragraphs I wrote. While we walk, I mull over what that scene needs to accomplish and if I come up with an idea, I make a voice note on my phone.
“When we get back from our walk, I make us both breakfast, and usually, as soon as I sit down at my computer, I’m off and running. I write from about 9:30/10 until 4-ish. Unless I run out of steam. I’ve learned not to push through weariness if I’m writing. It’s not as though I’m doing data entry. When I get an idea, I want to have the mental energy to embrace it, not shrug it off.
“At the end of the day, when I take my dog for another walk, I rehash what I wrote. I’ll look for a better phrase, or a more effective way to show something. Nine times out of ten, I’ll realize I skipped a reaction. That’s the biggest thing I miss on that first stab at a scene, is not capturing a logical reaction or not allowing something to breathe. I need to step away from the page to see that I bulldozed over something.
“And, again, I pull out my phone and make a voice note. If I don’t, I’ll spend 45 minutes later trying to remember my bright idea.”
Also influential were many, many books, movies, and television shows. She mentions too many to include here, but highlights a few in particular: “My favorite genre is — bad (or not so bad) people doing bad things to other bad people. Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Guy Ritchie’s Snatch and also Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Bill Hader’s Barry. Scott Ryan’s Mr. In Between. Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters.
“The Coen Brothers Burn After Reading. George Clooney plays a great character who has this weird preoccupation with flooring. Aside from all he’s doing in the plot, he’ll enter a room and comment on the type of hardwood. I loved that irreverence and the irrelevance, and I realized those nuggets are as satisfying to me as a reader/viewer, as major plot points.
“Finally, I have to mention Elmore Leonard and Get Shorty. The book, the film and the TV version. I rewatched the movie and reread the book when I started writing The Retirement Plan. I found its pace, and not really being sure you know what’s going on, to be inspirational.”
In fact, “not really being sure you know what’s going on” could also describe her epic journey to publication. Here it is, in all its glory:
“The Retirement Plan is my Cinderella on the heels of two ugly stepsisters.
“I’d always pictured myself writing in my retirement. The summer of 2020, I was 59 and thought I’d better get going if that was going to work. I had six weeks off in between shows and started a manuscript that I finished in March of 2021. I now know it wasn’t very good — it began with a woman waking up. Creative Writing 101 bad idea. But it took me querying 98 agents to realize that.
“That winter, I started taking online courses, listening to podcasts, joined a couple of critique groups, and read a few ‘how-to’ books — none of which I could understand. I still don’t know what ‘break into act 2’ means.
“But I wrote another book, which I thought was much better, and I was pretty confident it was at least as good as what I’d seen published. Yet I queried 52 agents who’d disagree.
“It was now winter of 2022. I made two decisions — rely on my judgment on how to tell a story and write something I’d want to read.
“January 2023, I started The Retirement Plan and it was ready to query in July. I thought — here we go again. Brace for rejection. One Saturday, I queried four agents. Twenty minutes later, the first agent requested the manuscript. The second agent took an hour. The other two requested by Monday.
“Finally! I knew at least I had a good premise and query letter. But could the manuscript deliver? Nothing about this process is quick or easy. Anyone who is trying to find an agent is well-served to read as many success stories as they can to get an understanding of how it works, and to see that you need to keep pushing. Knowing it’s a numbers game, I continued querying this novel until I was at 48 agents. I signed with the last agent I queried, although I ultimately was fortunate enough to have several offers of representation.
“The smartest things I did through that process was that even though I had several full manuscripts out, I kept querying, and I kept reading in search of better comps.
“That led me to read The Thursday Murder Club in late August. I thought it had the same sensibility as my book and saw that in the acknowledgements Richard Osman mentioned Mushens Entertainment. Somehow, in all my agent research, I’d missed that agency. I immediately sent off a query and had a quick reply and request for the full manuscript.
“From there, things unfolded in a ‘best-case scenario’. I outline it in detail in a blog on my website … both how I got an agent, and the submission timeline.
“But the short story is, in October I signed with Rachel Neely — agent 198 — and she requested about a day’s worth of revisions. She timed the submission to follow the Frankfurt Book Fair, and the manuscript went out early in November in the UK, the US and Canada. She heard that same day we’d be getting pre-empt offers in all three countries. Within a week, she had the deals done.
“I am super fortunate that the right people were excited about the book at the right time.
“I will add that I understand my editing process was a bit unconventional, as the book sold to three major publishers: Little Brown Book Group in the UK, HarperCollins William Morrow in the US, and HarperCollins Canada, and I have an editor from each.
“The three of them conferred and sent me one document and an annotated manuscript, with the notes color-coded to reflect who was making the suggestions. I made my revisions, returned the manuscript to them, and they reviewed, conferred and responded. I have no idea how easy it was for them to reach a consensus, but on my end, it was seamless.”
And, finally, asked if she has any last words, this is what she had to say:
“From the moment I opened that first Word doc, I knew the odds were against me. Against me that I’d finish the book, that it would be any good, that I’d find an agent, and then a publisher.
“This is really hokey, but I write about this in the acknowledgements. When I was about 20, I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert. He spoke about dreams. Having them, and not giving up on them. From the time I was a kid, I dreamed of creating the type of story I loved to fall into as a reader. At that concert, I made a silent promise to myself, in all my youthful naivete, to never give up on that dream. That promise always tugged at the back of my mind.
“So finally, I started. But then I wasn’t sure I could do it.
“Walking my dog, I’d wonder if I should even bother finishing. Was it any good? I really didn’t know. Who could? But the thoughts I came back to time and time again were these:
“The only thing I know for sure, is that if I don’t write it, nothing will happen.
“If not now, when?
“Why not me?
“And I say that same thing to anyone else with a story they want to write.
“Why not you?”
Sue Hincenbergs is a former television producer who has worked on multiple award-winning programs. She lives in Toronto with her (very much alive) husband, her scruffy, middle-aged rescue dog, Kramer, and the rooms full of the stuff her three sons left behind when they moved out. The porch light is always on in case one comes by for a visit. The Retirement Plan is her first novel.
Publish Date: 5/6/2025
Genre: Fiction
Author: Sue Hincenbergs
Page Count: 336 pages
Publisher: William Morrow
ISBN: 9780063398016
