Douglas Preston has proved himself so adept at devising fictional thrillers with his collaborator Lincoln Child that it’s easy to forget that he’s also a highly skilled journalist in his own right. A former writer and editor for the American Museum of Natural History, the part-time Maine resident has contributed articles to the New Yorker, National Geographic, Smithsonian and many other top-quality publications.

His book-length nonfiction includes “Dinosaurs in the Attic” and the best-selling and controversial serial killer investigation “The Monster of Florence” (with Mario Spezi).

Now the co-author of “The Obsidian Chamber,” “Crimson Shore,” “Relic” and other titles in the FBI Agent Pendergast weird-crime series delivers an account of a true-life adventure as dangerous and uncanny as anything served up in his fiction. “The Lost City of the Monkey God” recounts Preston’s participation in an expedition into the heart of the Honduran jungle, in search of Ciudad Blanca, the fabled and sacred White City.

Legend had it that the indigenous peoples fled to Ciudad Blanca with their gold after the arrival of conquistador Hernan Cortes. Preston’s account of the search for the elusive ruins is full of larger-than-life personalities, intense scientific debates, awesome discoveries and tragic setbacks.

Although treasure seekers had been on the lookout for traces of Ciudad Blanca for centuries, the idea of a lost Honduran city had received a boost in the popular imagination from reports by journalist Theodore Morde in 1940. Along with his partner, Laurence C. Brown, Morde claimed to have found the City of the Monkey God and brought back from it supposedly ancient artifacts. Morde’s accounts fueled a media sensation, even if most of the details would ultimately prove to be fabricated. In 1954, Morde committed suicide, taking his secrets with him.

But the legend and intrigue persisted. In 2012, Preston signs up as a reporter for the National Geographic Magazine to accompany a team of archaeologists, filmmakers, photographers and scientists into a highly remote, preserved section of Honduras known as La Mosquitia. Preston writes, “None of us had any idea what we would actually see on the ground, shrouded in dense jungle, in a pristine wilderness that had not seen human beings in living memory.”

What makes the expedition possible is the advent of lidar (Light Detecting and Ranging) laser technology on loan from NASA. With the million-dollar machine crammed into a single-engine plane, the team is able to detect what lies beneath the jungle canopy. What the lidar reveals is not simply an unknown city but an unimaginable metropolis, previously inhabited by an unknown people distinct from the Maya. Whoever they might have been, the residents disappeared centuries ago.

In addition to its tantalizing mysteries, the jungle proves to have more than its share of dangers, chief among them venomous snakes, such as the fer-de-lance, which can spit venom six feet and whose bite is so deadly that anyone struck would not be likely to survive evacuation. Also of concern are jaguars, scorpions and members of drug cartels.

Contracting a tropical illness is always a possibility. Perhaps the ghastliest disease endemic to Mosquitia is mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, sometimes called white leprosy, caused by the bite of an infected sand fly. Preston writes, “The Leishmania parasite migrates to mucous membranes of the victim’s nose and lips and eats them away, eventually creating a giant weeping sore where the face used to be.”

Despite the obvious hazards, Preston and his colleagues soldier on, and they are ultimately rewarded with a truly amazing find. The author recounts their tribulations and successes without a lot of hype, resisting any urge to play up the Indiana Jones aspects of the enterprise.

While most of “The Lost City of the Monkey God” takes a positive view of the expedition, the final third emphasizes the costs of venturing into unknown territory and the physical vulnerability of even the best-prepared explorers. Soon after their return home, Preston and his fellow travelers begin experiencing alarming medical symptoms.

Despite precautions, they clearly brought something virulent back with them from the jungle, and the unpleasantness of the treatment is matched only by the urgency of finding a solution to this medical mystery.

Part of what makes “The Lost City of the Monkey God” so readable is its solid narrative arc. It begins with a tantalizing mystery, develops into an intricate archaeological mission and ends with a twist that puts all that has gone before into a new perspective. Preston’s talent as a writer of crime fiction serves him well here. He’s careful not to let his prose get overheated, but he knows which details of his story to emphasize in the service of suspense, irony or amazement.

“The Lost City of the Monkey God” is a superior example of narrative nonfiction, an exciting, immersive tale of modern science and ancient mythology. Preston captures the complexity of his subject without bogging down in the details, presenting scenes with clarity, purposefulness and wit. It’s a great story for a snowy day, an action-packed journey into a hot zone of scientific intrigue.

Berkeley writer Michael Berry is a Portsmouth, New Hampshire, native who has contributed to Salon, the San Francisco Chronicle, New Hampshire Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books and many other publications. He can be contacted at:

mikeberry@mindspring.com

Twitter: mlberry

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