The fourth Young Bond novel, written by Charlie Higson and published in 2007.
Due to the events of the last book, James Bond has been spending the early weeks of the year 1934 together with his aunt Charmian. He accompanies her to Mexico, where she is set to go on an expedition into the Amazon rainforest. Bond is swept away on an adventure when a gang of criminals raid the place he is staying, and he has to embark on a journey to retrieve a set of stolen papers.
This novel has examples of:
- Agony of the Feet: After Robert King passes the first hazard in the Avenue of Death, it is followed by spikes coming from the floor, one of which strikes through his foot.
- Ain't No Rule: Bond and Precious rely on this for their trip through la Avenida de Muerte - they cheat like crazy - animal repellent, bracing themselves against the walls, climbing over the next two challenges completely, metal plates to protect them from the scorching steel floor, and using preset explosives to blow out the final wall... and El Huracán lets them go, because the only condition was indeed to make it through the Death Course alive.
- Ant Assault: This is how Strabo meets his fate.
- Beef Bandage: A doctor bandages a piece of bacon to Bond's back to draw the botfly maggots out of his infected wound.
- Big Bad: Mrs. Glass and her band drive most of the story looking for the papers stolen from American Navy. Once the action moves to Lagrimas Negras, she steps into the sidelines as one of its new residents, and El Huracán becomes the main obstacle.
- The Bus Came Back: Manny is knocked out a window when the gang first attacks the Stone house, but later resurfaces many chapters later, having tracked down the group and with a nasty head wound that causes him to believe that Bond is his brother Louis for a while.
- Cold Sniper: Strabo, who guns down fleeing soldiers with a rifle while grinning the whole time and making bets on how far he can hit them from.
- Continuity Nod:
- It is brought up how Bond had been repeatedly bitten by a swarm of mosquitoes last summer.
- Prof. Merriot's letter to Bond brings up how he managed to win the cross-country in the Hellebore Cup
- Cool Car: Jack Stone's car, a "Doozy" - a Duesenberg SJ.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Bond adopts the persona of Angel Corona, a street hoodlum killed in the hurricane, so that he and Garcia can join the criminals led by Mrs. Glass who have taken Precious and JJ hostage. Since his travels have left him very tanned and the American criminals can't spot a real Mexican from a fake one, the ruse succeeds.
- Death by Childbirth: El Huracán has been married four times, and he has outlived all of his wives. The first one died during childbirth.
- Death Course: ''La Avenida de Muerte, or the "Avenue of Death" is a series of tunnels containing nine specific hazards, used to punish those who break the rules of Lagrimas Negras. If one makes through it, they are free to go. There's actually no escape. Until Bond and Precious break the rules.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: Strabo gets eaten alive by army ants.
- Destination Defenestration: Bond surprises Manny, one of the people robbing the mansion he is staying at while aunt Charmian is away, in the dark and pushes him through a window. He suffers a bad head injury from the fall, which left part of his brain exposed and made him delusional.
- Disguised in Drag: Manny made name for himself in the States by robbing several banks disguised as a woman. This earned him the nickname "Manny the Girl".
- From Dress to Dressing: Cut and bruised, Bond, Precious and JJ manage to hide in an ice room from the hurricane thrashing the Stone household. Bond then uses strips of Precious' tattered dress on their wounds.
- Gun Struggle: Once they made it to the island which houses Lagrimas Negras, Bond has to once again put up with Manny getting his mind together and trying to shoot him. Bond hits the gun from his hand, they struggle for it, and Manny is shot in the shoulder.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Lagrimas Negras is Spanish for Black Tears.
- Ironic Hell: Theda Glass might look like a Karma Houdini at first, but now she's become the idle rich on a paradise island... until her money runs out and she'll be worked to death farming for everyone else.
- The Jailer: El Huracán runs Lagrimas Negras as a hideaway for criminals on the run. Once on the island, they can never leave. While their money lasts, they live a life of luxury, but once their money runs out, he puts them to work as a slave labour force. El Huracán does confide to Bond that he regards himself as the jailer of these criminals.
- Just Desserts: Bond throws Strabo with a jiujitsu move into a stream of army ants, which proceed to eat him alive.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Avenue of Death is reminiscient of the Death Course that Bond has to go through in Dr. No. It even ends with a supposed no-win scenario against a waterbound beast.
- Japanese gangster Sakata is no doubt named after Japanese-Hawaiian wrestler and actor Harold Sakata, who played Oddjob in Goldfinger.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: The ninth and last hazard in the Avenue of Death is room with giant crocodile in it, called One Death.
- Noble Demon: El Huracán, who comes to an agreement with Bond in the end, and everyone goes their separate ways satisfied.
- Off with His Head!: Bond shoots the head off from an iguana with a revolver, and he and Precious eat the thing for dinner.
- Outlaw Town: Lagrimas Negras welcomes any criminal to live in it. They cannot leave, but as long as they have enough money to pay, life is nothing but endless partying.
- Quicksand Sucks: Whatzat discovers Bond's treachery when he tries to help Precious and other prisoners escape, but after a brief struggle, he ends up in a mudhole where he sinks in and drowns.
- Pet the Dog: As Bond reaches the end of the Avenue of Death, all of the watching gangsters start getting invested in his struggle and cheering for him to survive regardless of the outcome it will have on the bets they've made.
- Razor Floss: The fifth hazard in the Avenue of Death is a room with a panther in it and various razor-sharp lines blocking the exit.
- Red Right Hand: Mrs. Glass' scalp was shredded with gunfire in the past, leaving her bald and scarred on top of her head.
- Rising Water, Rising Tension: Bond attempts to drive the Stone children to town after the hurricane wrecks the mansion. The car gets caught in a sudden flood and JJ almost drowns.
- Self-Made Orphan: Manny although he regrets it.
- Scary Scorpions: The third hazard in the Avenue of Death is crawling through a vent filled with stingy, but non-poisonous scorpions. Bond and Precious bypass it by climbing over it.
- Spoiled Brat: Jack Stone has spoiled his daughter Precious rotten, and she proves to be a nuisance early on with her neverending complaining. A hurricane destroying her home and a line of other hardships eventually brings her out of it.
- Title Drop: As El Huracán hands the stolen American Navy papers to the leaving Bond, he likens them to be what Mayans called hurricane gold, treasure that brings nothing but misery to its owner.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: One young servant at the villa is found knocked badly hurt and unconscious by another one, who keeps him from being drowned in the puddle he's passed out in right before being attacked himself. Later, Bond and Precious see the body of the second servants, but the first one is nowhere to be found and isn't mentioned again.
