If you haven’t read this book yet, muster up some “four o’clock in the morning courage” and grab a copy. It’s one of our favorite literary adventure novels.

The Mosquito Coast: A Novel, by Paul Theroux. First Edition, Early Printing (4th) with Number Line. Hardcover, 1982. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Quarter-bound in Bright Tangerine Cloth with Pale Blue Paper over Boards; Pelican Illustration on Front Board; Gorgeous Woodcuts Throughout; Black Lettering on Spine; 374 Pages.

A Fine, Like-New Book, with Straight Boards, a Tight Binding, and an Unblemished Interior. Free of Writing, Notations, and Bookplates. Not a Remainder or Ex-Library Book. A Crisp, Unread Copy that Comes in a Bright, Colorful Near-Fine Price-Clipped Dust Jacket with Theroux’s Portrait on the Rear Panel. Now Protected in a Removable Archival Cover.

An eccentric, brilliant American inventor named Allie Fox, with “nine patents, six pending” to his name, moves his family to the jungles of Central America in hopes of escaping the empty consumerism and war mongering of American society and building a more meaningful life. His utopian experiment takes a dark turn when his obsessions lead to chilling danger.

At its core, this is a literary adventure story about fathers and sons—something Theroux has down pat.

Peter Weir’s 1986 film adaptation is equally entertaining, with star turns from the late River Phoenix as Allie’s son, Charlie, who narrates the story in soulful voiceover, and Harrison Ford as Allie and Helen Mirren playing Margot Fox. AppleTV also adapted the novel into a TV series starring the author’s nephew, the brilliant actor Justin Theroux.