The Little Old Lady who Broke all the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

From Goodreads

79-year-old Martha Anderson dreams of escaping her care home and robbing a bank. She has no intention of spending the rest of her days in an armchair and is determined to fund her way to a much more exciting life-style. Along with her four oldest friends - otherwise known as the League of Pensioners - Martha decides to rebel against all of the rules imposed upon them. Together, they cause an uproar with their antics: protesting against early bedtimes and plastic meals. As the elderly friends become more daring, their activities escalate and they come up with a cunning plan to break out of the care home and land themselves in a far more attractive Stockholm establishment. With the aid of their Zimmer frames, they resolve to stand up for old aged pensioners everywhere - Robin Hood style. And that's when the adventure really takes off . . 

My thoughts

This is quite a quick read. It was one of my Library Reading Group reads. The group on the whole didn't like it and found it very silly, but that is one of the reasons that I quite liked it. Everything that happened I found to be very slapstick comedy style. I can see this transferring quite well to the silver screen and it reminded me of the old fashioned slapstick comedy films of yesteryear.

Martha and her four friends are a feisty bunch of Pensioners, living in a retirement home and they are all fed up with the normal day to day life, food, etc. They all wanted more from life, more excitement and better food. They plot to cause trouble at the home and begin to rebel against the rules and day to day life, the plastic food that they felt that they were being fed.

A plot is hatched to carry out a robbery, it appears to be a very well thought out crime, with no stone being left unturned. Following some success, other similar plots are carried out, which see the Pensioners leaving the familiar confines of the home and staying in various different locations.

As the police try to solve the series of crimes, various comical events occur. The pensioners are never far away from the ensuing mayhem. Ending up being followed by thugs and blackmailed.

I liked the story and I am more than happy to give it a 7/10. I enjoyed the slapstck comedy element and could really picture the events well in my head.

Apparently to some reviewers this might be the first in a series, if it is I doubt I'll read anymore of them.