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The Unexpected Consequences Of Iron Overload: A Paranormal, Romantic, Spoof Thriller
Jimmy Kavanagh has a genetic condition where he absorbs and stores iron from his diet over and above the body's requirements - Haemochromatosis. He is unaware of this, but as time progresses, with increased iron levels he exhibits many unusual traits : oxidisation (rusting), becoming magnetised, and having strong bones (excess iron is stored in bone marrow). Through various childhood experiences he realises he is different but doesn't know why. After a significant event in which he saves Barbara, the woman of his dreams, from possible death he realises he can control his magnetism. His life is further complicated after coming to the attention of the KGB. They are interested in all things paranormal, and the CIA who are determined to stop the Russians. Life for Jimmy is further complicated by Sheila. Her father is Irish though she was born in Australia. She has Haemochromatosis but of course, from the Southern hemisphere her polarity is reversed.
Will Jimmy and Barbara live happily ever after? Can he manage to thwart the Russians, and CIA. Since opposites attract does his future lay with Sheila?
Will Jimmy and Barbara live happily ever after? Can he manage to thwart the Russians, and CIA. Since opposites attract does his future lay with Sheila?
- GenresHumor
351 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 12, 2012
6 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
About the author
James Minter
33 books179 followersJames is a dad to two grown-up children, and a step father to three more. His fiction writing career started some nine years ago with books designed to appeal to the inner child in all of us - very English humour. Later his daughter Louise, reminded him of the bedtime stories he told her, and suggested he might like to commit them to paper for others to enjoy. He hasn't yet, but instead embarked on writing the eight-book Billy Books series for 7 to 9-year-old girls and boys. These are traditional stories, featuring negative behaviours but with positive outcomes.
Although the main character Billy and his friends are fictitious, Billy's dog, Jacko, is based on his family's much-loved pet, which, with their second dog Malibu, caused havoc and mayhem to the delight of his children and consternation of himself.
Before he started writing, James spent his working life as a college lecturer, and later in the computer industry. It was at a time before the invention of smartphones and tablets, when computers were powered by steam, and stood as high as a bus.
The Hole Opportunity was the first product of his imagination for the inner-child. The Unexpected Consequences of Iron Overload followed a year later. A paranormal, romantic spoof thriller, written to raise awareness of a genetic medical condition called Haemochromatosis. Book II of the Hole Trilogy - A Tunnel is Only a Hole on its Side - came next.
Currently, in addition to the Billy Books series of books and campaigning for children's values, James is writing book III of the Hole Trilogy - Marmite Makes a Sandwich, Dynamite Makes a Hole.
Websites:
www.thebillybooks.co.uk
www.jamesminter.com
E-mail:
james@jamesminter.com
Twitter:
@james_minter
Facebook:
facebook.com/billygrowingup/
facebook.com/author.james.minter
Although the main character Billy and his friends are fictitious, Billy's dog, Jacko, is based on his family's much-loved pet, which, with their second dog Malibu, caused havoc and mayhem to the delight of his children and consternation of himself.
Before he started writing, James spent his working life as a college lecturer, and later in the computer industry. It was at a time before the invention of smartphones and tablets, when computers were powered by steam, and stood as high as a bus.
The Hole Opportunity was the first product of his imagination for the inner-child. The Unexpected Consequences of Iron Overload followed a year later. A paranormal, romantic spoof thriller, written to raise awareness of a genetic medical condition called Haemochromatosis. Book II of the Hole Trilogy - A Tunnel is Only a Hole on its Side - came next.
Currently, in addition to the Billy Books series of books and campaigning for children's values, James is writing book III of the Hole Trilogy - Marmite Makes a Sandwich, Dynamite Makes a Hole.
Websites:
www.thebillybooks.co.uk
www.jamesminter.com
E-mail:
james@jamesminter.com
Twitter:
@james_minter
Facebook:
facebook.com/billygrowingup/
facebook.com/author.james.minter
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 27, 2014
This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title
The Unexpected Consequences of Iron Overload
Author
James Minter
FEEDBACK
Cover 9/10
Excellent, fun cover with a strong central image and easy-to-read fonts. The readers loved the cover and blurb too. One reader wrote: ‘I loved this cover. The blurb was pretty good too, but it was the image of the hero in a DJ and underpants that sold me the book.’
Editing 7/10
Generally, the readers thought this book was well edited with no problems with punctuation, spelling or grammar. They did, however, feel the pacing needed a little work and the very strong dialect of a few of the characters was over worked making speech difficult to follow. One reader wrote: ‘The author worked hard to show how the Russian characters spoke English. I applaud him for this. However, it did make the dialogue in the book hard to wade through. I think, perhaps, he over did it.’
Theme 7/10
A very interesting and fun way to look at a medical problem. Although the readers felt the characters were a little bland and two-dimensional, it probably fitted with the genre of the book i.e. a light-hearted comedy.
They liked the twisting plot and the ‘spy’ elements of the novel. They also enjoyed learning about Hereditary Hemochromatosis and they felt this novel was an excellent way of increasing awareness.
Style 7/10
The readers felt the author’s sense of humour was the strongest element in this book. One reader wrote on her feedback: ‘This author is really funny and most of his book is speech. However, his character/setting descriptions seems a little rushed and there is little in the way of character development. If I was in the mood for a light-hearted, fun book, I would happily pick this. If I wanted a book with depth of character and remarkable settings, I would not.’
STATS
Of the 15 readers:
15 liked the cover.
12 enjoyed your way of mixing a fun story with a medical problem.
6 felt the characters were a little too shallow and did not develop in the story.
9 thought the dialect was overdone, slowing the pace of the book.
‘A fun, laugh-out-loud read. Highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Awards
Title
The Unexpected Consequences of Iron Overload
Author
James Minter
FEEDBACK
Cover 9/10
Excellent, fun cover with a strong central image and easy-to-read fonts. The readers loved the cover and blurb too. One reader wrote: ‘I loved this cover. The blurb was pretty good too, but it was the image of the hero in a DJ and underpants that sold me the book.’
Editing 7/10
Generally, the readers thought this book was well edited with no problems with punctuation, spelling or grammar. They did, however, feel the pacing needed a little work and the very strong dialect of a few of the characters was over worked making speech difficult to follow. One reader wrote: ‘The author worked hard to show how the Russian characters spoke English. I applaud him for this. However, it did make the dialogue in the book hard to wade through. I think, perhaps, he over did it.’
Theme 7/10
A very interesting and fun way to look at a medical problem. Although the readers felt the characters were a little bland and two-dimensional, it probably fitted with the genre of the book i.e. a light-hearted comedy.
They liked the twisting plot and the ‘spy’ elements of the novel. They also enjoyed learning about Hereditary Hemochromatosis and they felt this novel was an excellent way of increasing awareness.
Style 7/10
The readers felt the author’s sense of humour was the strongest element in this book. One reader wrote on her feedback: ‘This author is really funny and most of his book is speech. However, his character/setting descriptions seems a little rushed and there is little in the way of character development. If I was in the mood for a light-hearted, fun book, I would happily pick this. If I wanted a book with depth of character and remarkable settings, I would not.’
STATS
Of the 15 readers:
15 liked the cover.
12 enjoyed your way of mixing a fun story with a medical problem.
6 felt the characters were a little too shallow and did not develop in the story.
9 thought the dialect was overdone, slowing the pace of the book.
‘A fun, laugh-out-loud read. Highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Awards
November 7, 2013
The cover illustration sets the right tone for this lighthearted, spoof thriller - an entertaining romp with echoes of James Bond, George Smiley et al, in the oh-so-dated world of 1980s computing. This setting had extra resonance for me, as one of my first jobs was in a small computer software company in the 1980s, and, dare I confess, I married one its salesmen?! And aren't they real companies that he's talking about? Not just Microsoft (obv) but also Sphinx and Zylog?
Although this certainly isn't a novel for feminists easily offended by sexism (or indeed for easily offended Russian spies or CIA agents), I found it all great fun, in the tradition of Carry On films, whose purposely caricature-like characters and wafer-thin plots are contrived primarily as vehicles for jokes.
Having had a spate of reading serious, grim novels over the last few weeks, this was a breath of fresh air and I lapped it up.
I also thought it was a creative, memorable and interesting way of drawing attention to the cause for which he's raising money and awareness - the very real and serious condition of haemachromatosis. Well done, James Minter.
Although this certainly isn't a novel for feminists easily offended by sexism (or indeed for easily offended Russian spies or CIA agents), I found it all great fun, in the tradition of Carry On films, whose purposely caricature-like characters and wafer-thin plots are contrived primarily as vehicles for jokes.
Having had a spate of reading serious, grim novels over the last few weeks, this was a breath of fresh air and I lapped it up.
I also thought it was a creative, memorable and interesting way of drawing attention to the cause for which he's raising money and awareness - the very real and serious condition of haemachromatosis. Well done, James Minter.
July 20, 2017
James Minter's wonderful book, "The Unexpected Consequences of Iron Overload" is a really fun read with the added benefit of being an awareness (and fund!) raiser for the genetic condition of hemochromatosis. His motivation in writing the book was to bring laughter and humor to an otherwise not very funny condition and to 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 was going to 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 what I liked is 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, 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 with a family member with 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 characters childhood, diet, and origins all were clues to his story that weren’t obvious if you aren’t familiar with the disease.
Mr. Minter is a really good author and I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an enjoyable read (plus, you might just learn something, too!).
--Kristina Lewis
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 was going to 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 what I liked is 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, 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 with a family member with 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 characters childhood, diet, and origins all were clues to his story that weren’t obvious if you aren’t familiar with the disease.
Mr. Minter is a really good author and I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an enjoyable read (plus, you might just learn something, too!).
--Kristina Lewis
October 1, 2013
This tale is a clever one, taking a relatively unknown medical condition called Haemochromatosis and introducing it to the reading public in an informative and creative way. Haemochromatosis is a genetic disorder in which the body absorbs more iron that it needs. This book was written based on the author’s own experiences with this condition and to raise funds for the Haemochromatosis Society. Although there is a brief preface before the story begins explaining a bit about this condition and the author’s own history with it, this is not a book that is heavy with scientific facts nor is it monotonous in the telling. James Minter gives his readers just enough information to understand Haemochromatosis and to help us better see things from his main character’s perspective. This introduction, including a foreword from the founder and chair of the Haemochromatosis Society, was done just right and gives a wonderful introduction to a funny and charming story.
James, who is English, was curious to find out how his story would be perceived by an American audience. I found this book to be very entertaining and well written, sprinkled generously with humor that made me laugh out loud and characters who were filled with personality and color. I very much enjoyed the author’s talent at writing such wonderful dialogue, the characters bouncing easily off of one another and interacting in the most pleasing way. He describes the streets and places of London just enough so that the reader becomes familiar with the setting, and the turn of phrase is definitely English but intriguingly so. I found The Unexpected Consequences of Iron Overload to be a very fun novel to read and was grateful for the opportunity to do so.
As with any book, there were of course characters I enjoyed more than others. There are two Russian spies who constantly had me giggling with their loose grasp on the English language. I was intrigued with Jimmy Kavanaugh, the main character, and the unique way in which he experiments with and uses his medical condition. My favorite character was Sheila who speaks with a Cockney accent. I read her slowly simply because I loved hearing her words in my head. This woman was written with such vibrancy that I actually longed to meet and spend the afternoon with her. I was, truthfully, a bit disappointed in the way the two American CIA agents were depicted. It was disheartening to see Americans portrayed as dimwitted and incapable, but even with that said, I have to note that these two characters were still very likable and interesting.
I had no idea what to think at the beginning of this novel but it carried itself well. James is a talented writer who knows how to construct his prose and I was entertained throughout. He gives an extra bonus at the end by throwing in a plot twist I didn’t see coming but was very pleased and satisfied by. All in all this was a very intriguing novel and well worth the read.
James, who is English, was curious to find out how his story would be perceived by an American audience. I found this book to be very entertaining and well written, sprinkled generously with humor that made me laugh out loud and characters who were filled with personality and color. I very much enjoyed the author’s talent at writing such wonderful dialogue, the characters bouncing easily off of one another and interacting in the most pleasing way. He describes the streets and places of London just enough so that the reader becomes familiar with the setting, and the turn of phrase is definitely English but intriguingly so. I found The Unexpected Consequences of Iron Overload to be a very fun novel to read and was grateful for the opportunity to do so.
As with any book, there were of course characters I enjoyed more than others. There are two Russian spies who constantly had me giggling with their loose grasp on the English language. I was intrigued with Jimmy Kavanaugh, the main character, and the unique way in which he experiments with and uses his medical condition. My favorite character was Sheila who speaks with a Cockney accent. I read her slowly simply because I loved hearing her words in my head. This woman was written with such vibrancy that I actually longed to meet and spend the afternoon with her. I was, truthfully, a bit disappointed in the way the two American CIA agents were depicted. It was disheartening to see Americans portrayed as dimwitted and incapable, but even with that said, I have to note that these two characters were still very likable and interesting.
I had no idea what to think at the beginning of this novel but it carried itself well. James is a talented writer who knows how to construct his prose and I was entertained throughout. He gives an extra bonus at the end by throwing in a plot twist I didn’t see coming but was very pleased and satisfied by. All in all this was a very intriguing novel and well worth the read.
April 25, 2014
Hilarious Spy Thriller with a Serious Edge
I love James Minter's sense of humour and his choice of characters in this fast London based comedy. Jimmy discovers he is magnetic in more ways than one. After saving his colleagues from certain death from a falling lightning tower at a Microsoft conference, including his beloved Barbara, Russian and American secret agents compete to capture him and harness his amazing skills. Enter the voluptuous cafe owner, Shelia, who is persuaded to act as a double agent and the story takes on an hilarious twist. A must buy and for a good cause too!
J W Finnigan
I love James Minter's sense of humour and his choice of characters in this fast London based comedy. Jimmy discovers he is magnetic in more ways than one. After saving his colleagues from certain death from a falling lightning tower at a Microsoft conference, including his beloved Barbara, Russian and American secret agents compete to capture him and harness his amazing skills. Enter the voluptuous cafe owner, Shelia, who is persuaded to act as a double agent and the story takes on an hilarious twist. A must buy and for a good cause too!
J W Finnigan
July 31, 2014
I won this book in a Goodreads Firstreads Giveaway.
The information about iron overload was well researched and informative. It was really enjoyable reading and I am going to pass it on to my phlebotomist friends.
The information about iron overload was well researched and informative. It was really enjoyable reading and I am going to pass it on to my phlebotomist friends.
February 10, 2015
I received this book as a Goodreads winner. I liked this book more than I expected to. An interesting take on someone with 'iron overload'. The ending kind of felt a little rushed in my most humble of opinions.
June 7, 2015
Goodreads first reads prize.
I did enjoy this but felt that the ending was too rushed and as plot twists go just not realistic.
I did however find myself giggling away to myself throughout the book, the humour was pitched about right for a light hearted, non too taxing read. It was interesting to read the intro about the medical condition, one which I certainly had never heard of, and that information made it easier to understand the events happening to the main protagonist - though within the story itself there is no mention of the condition - in fact I don't think that he ever does find out what it is which is causing his oddities.
I did enjoy this but felt that the ending was too rushed and as plot twists go just not realistic.
I did however find myself giggling away to myself throughout the book, the humour was pitched about right for a light hearted, non too taxing read. It was interesting to read the intro about the medical condition, one which I certainly had never heard of, and that information made it easier to understand the events happening to the main protagonist - though within the story itself there is no mention of the condition - in fact I don't think that he ever does find out what it is which is causing his oddities.
October 13, 2019
This was so funny. American operatives and Russian operatives both paying a low class cafe owner to work for them. A man with too much iron in his blood has caught their attention and they want to study him. Very readable. Character were unreal enough to make the story.
January 16, 2014
It was slow moving in spots and hard to get passed that point, once I got passed that, it was fast paced and enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews