Mrs. Plansky's Revenge: A Novel

Mrs. Plansky's Revenge by Spencer Quinn has an interesting premise, but it did not live up to it. The author is an overly descriptive writer. The long, drawn-out descriptions are not needed. We learn way too much about Mrs. Plansky's deceased husband, Norm (including a tale about a tree cutting that he planted and all the work it entailed). It appears that Mrs. Plansky is a little out of it in the beginning (zoning out frequently and forgetting things). Later, though, she comes up with a plan to get herself to Romania and find a way to retrieve her money. The setting up of the characters and plot takes up the first third of the book. I had trouble liking any of the characters. Mrs. Plansky enables her children. They only visit or call when they need money. I did not understand how she could give them money for their cockamamie ventures (it is like Mrs. Plansky is throwing her money away). Mrs. Plansky needed to learn to say no or make those ungrateful kids sign loan agreements. The story is told from Mrs. Plansky and Dinu, a budding criminal, point of view (it is sad when you start liking the criminal more than the protagonist). Mrs. Plansky refers to herself in the third person throughout the whole book. It is odd. I found the internal dialogue to be awkward and dreary. The story moves at a slow pace (actually, snails move faster) until near the end. The ending is swift and farfetched. I believe some things are supposed to be humorous, but I did not feel like laughing. I was just grateful to turn the last page. The story does contain mild foul language, intimate relations, swindling people of money, physical abuse, and alcohol consumption. Mrs. Plansky's Revenge is a monotonous tale with a wealthy widow, avaricious kids, a currency scam, a difficult father, a magnetic writer, cybercrime criminals, and a farfetched finale.