IRON BOY

A moving memoir of one man’s lifelong experience with a rare blood disorder.

Thriller writer Bozikas, the author of Black Ops: Zulu (2021), turns to nonfiction in this moving remembrance of his remarkable life. Since birth, the author has struggled with beta thalassemia major, a disorder that diminishes his body’s ability to create healthy red blood cells. He describes growing up in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, in the 1960s with an emphasis on how his disorder affected his daily life; for example, he began receiving blood transfusions from his earliest days and experienced traumatic medical emergencies, including a crisis that necessitated the removal of his spleen at the age of 4. However, Bozikas’ memoir doesn’t focus solely on health issues or get bogged down in medical jargon; instead, he engagingly presents the totality of his life experience from the 1960s to the present day, and he does so at a breezy pace. He notes his early love of comic books—including his connection to the Marvel Comics character Iron Man—and his engagement in sports as a youth. He later details meeting his future wife, Helen, at a discotheque in 1983. In the memoir’s most moving sections, he recalls how the couple handled the anxiety of whether their unborn child would inherit their father’s struggle. For the most part, Bozikas presents a cleareyed depiction of a tightknit family undaunted by limitations. Ultimately, the book is a testament to perseverance, and Bozikas’ account of his ascension to the role of CEO of the disability resource center Self Advocacy Sydney is likely to stay with readers long after they’ve put down the work.

A thoughtful story of determination and finding joy in life.