I’m a sucker for a book that involves a grand adventure. Especially if that adventure includes the pursuit of a historical mystery and tromping around the jungle.

Jungleland: A Mysterious Lost City, a WWII Spy, and a True Story of Deadly Adventure by Christopher Stewart seemed to fit the profile perfectly.

And it is a fun story. It revolves around the authors pursuit of the exploits of Theodore Morde, a fascinating character who traveled the world, explored the jungles of Honduras, and served as an OSS spy in World War II. The author becomes fixated on Morde’s discovery of the White City, a ruin in the dense rainforest of Honduras. Nobody had ever confirmed Morde’s discovery, so the author packs his bags, says goodbye to his wife and four year old daughter, and heads to the jungle.

Unfortunately, the author has no experience for such an adventure. And this is where, for me at least, the book is at it’s weakest. Stewart does a good job of describing both his own weaknesses as he explores the jungle and his own naiveté about the whole adventure, but the impact on me was often to pause and think, “Wow, really, you were that dumb? You really thought the White City was real? You really thought it wouldn’t be as hard as it was to hike the rainforest? You really believed what superstitious people told you? You really were scared by hyperbolic descriptions of the bugs and snakes?”

Maybe it’s just me. I’m a country boy at heart, and my first machete wielding hike through the Belize rainforest was over 20 years ago (geographically and environmentally the Belize and Honduran rainforests are the same). So hearing Stewart’s descriptions of challenges and hardships fall on deaf ears.

But … it is still a fun book. A bit of history, a bit of cultural awareness, plenty of adventure, and the honest findings of an adventurer at heart. I’m impressed that Stewart would take on the challenge that he did and I hope he found his own Ciudad Blanca in the process.