Two other Theroux works offer portraits of heroes in unfamiliar surroundings attempting to survive and prosper. Saint Jack (1973) exposes the poverty, vice and political corruption of Singapore as observed by Jack Flowers, an expatriate American with the dubious responsibility of providing prostitutes for visiting businessmen and servicemen. His dream is to own his own brothel and win fame as a writer. The dream becomes a reality but at a price: He secures the money for the brothel from a man charged with building a rest and recuperation "center" for U.S. troops fighting in Vietnam. But the Army soon closes the place down, and Flowers is cast adrift. He manages to survive, however, believing that he still has "all the time in the world" to regain his dream. Like Allie Fox, he yearns for something better than his present life; unlike him, he finds a way...