Haemochromatosis Awareness Raiser
James Minter’s wonderful book, “The Unexpected Consequences of Iron Overload” is an entertaining read with the added benefit of being an awareness (and fund!) raiser for the genetic condition hemochromatosis.
His motivation to write the book was to bring laughter and humor to an otherwise not very funny condition and help start conversations about the not often discussed condition of hemochromatosis.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s marketed as a “paranormal, romantic, spoof thriller,” and at first I wasn’t quite sure how he would pull all that off without going too far into the realm of ridiculous, but I was quite impressed at the balance he found.
The characters are all just a little bit exaggerated (hence the “spoof” aspect of the book), but I liked that this was not taken too far as to become silly. They maintain a human-ness within their over-the-top personalities. This is part of what made this book such a fun read!
The hero is dashing, and the villains are evil (and a bit bumbling…also, it’s not always clear which ones the actual villains are, which is part of the fun). There are Russian spies and American CIA agents. There are not one but two beautiful heroines. And of course, there’s the mystery of why one man seems to possess magical powers, almost as if he has too much iron in his body…
As an American, I appreciated the humor of how the CIA agents were depicted, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I spent a lot of time looking up terms like “Proper English Breakfast,” “Mews,” and “Marmite.” I ended up learning a lot!
Finally, as someone who knows a lot about hemochromatosis, I appreciated all the “inside jokes” and details that were clearly added into the book by Mr. Minter as a wink to those who know about hemochromatosis.
Parts of the main character’s childhood, diet, and origins were clues to his story that wasn’t obvious if you weren’t familiar with the disease. If you’ve read my husband’s book, Holistic Help for Hemochromatosis, or my book, Cooking for Hemochromatosis, you’ll recognize a lot of nuances to what the characters are eating and lifestyle choices that are related to why the main character’s hemochromatosis may have gotten so out of control!
Mr. Minter is a really good author and I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an enjoyable read (plus, you might just learn something, too!).
- Learn more on James Minter’s website:
http://www.jamesminter.com/hemochromatosis/4590213681 - Share reviews on Goodreads: The Unexpected Consequences of Iron Overload
