Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge

by Spencer Quinn

We’ve probably all heard stories of being woken up in the middle of the night by a static filled phone call from a loved one who needs money right away to get out of a bad situation. Then imagine being elderly with no way of producing new income and finding you have been taken in by such a scam that has drained every penny from your bank account? And worse, if you have the same password on multiple accounts, your life savings can disappear in a matter of minutes.

Mrs. Plansky, a comfortably well off 71 year old widow, who is generous to her both her children and her father, gets taken in by some schemers. She finds herself broke, embarrassed, and very angry. She not only wants to get her money back, but she goes to Romania determined to make it happen because it is clear that there is no government that is going to help her.

It’s easy at any age to identify with Mrs. Plansky’s predicament. She is likable and determined. Although totally unprepared for undercover ops in Romania in the winter, she gathers her now meagre resources and plows ahead. I enjoyed her ingenuity and her flexibility as circumstances arise. Some of the people she encounters are caught up in a crime ring and are suffering because of it; others are mean and cruel. Mrs. Plansky knows how to deal with both kinds. At the end of the tale, there is a surprise as Mrs. Plansky is able to use a skill learned 50 years earlier in a race for her life.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Mystery

Notes: 1. There is a fair amount of mild swearing, but I honestly got so caught up in the plot, that the words disappeared into the background.

    2. There is subtle humor in the difficulties of Romanians trying to understand English idioms.

Publication:  July 25, 2023—Tor Publishing Group (Forge)

Memorable Lines:

Mrs. Plansky also caught the look but couldn’t interpret it. All she knew was that she felt like she was watching a tennis match featuring no players she wanted to root for. Not a very nice thought and she sent it packing at once.

From our point of view the scammers are bad guys, end of story. But to the elite running the show over there the scammers are bad guys who also have a nice little industry going, bringing in the Yankee dollar and lots of ‘em. And to the everyday Joe they’re punching up, the kind of outlaw people have a soft spot for.”  “Like Robin Hood.”  “You got it.”