Miguel's Gift: A Novel

by Bruce Kading

Overview

In late 1980s Chicago, Nick Hayden, a rookie INS field agent, is eager to make his mark in the unit responsible for picking up illegal immigrants around the city. Hayden excels, whether he’s raiding factories or busting Colombian drug dealers. Seen as a rising star by supervisors, over time the green, idealistic Hayden evolves into what one veteran agent terms a “gladiator,” an agent willing to do whatever is necessary to get the job done. But Hayden’s real reason for joining INS—the mysterious death of an agent thirteen years earlier—remains a closely guarded secret, even as he reluctantly begins a discreet inquiry to uncover the truth.

Hayden’s world changes dramatically when he recruits Miguel Chavez, a humble Mexican illegal immigrant, to be an informant to help take down Salvador Rico, the ruthless kingpin of Chicago’s counterfeit document trade. Nick faces challenges during the investigation that profoundly alter his career and personal priorities as the story builds to a deadly confrontation. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613736258
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/01/2017
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Bruce Kading has twenty-six years of experience as a special agent with the federal government, employed by the INS, EPA, and FBI. He has written articles for the Chicago Tribune and Taos News and received an award for investigative reporting from the New Mexico Press Association.

Editorial Reviews

02/06/2017
Kading’s clear-eyed first novel follows the career path of Nick Hayden, who joins the investigation division of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Chicago in 1987. Hayden’s secret motivation is to learn the truth behind a 1974 shooting that involved three INS agents and one civilian. One agent was killed, another was fired, and the third retired a year after he fatally shot the civilian. As an untested rookie, Hayden—along with his partner, Tom Kane—hits factories employing immigrants with no papers or false papers, enforcing a policy that the cynical Kane explains benefits everybody but the agents and the “illegals.” Hayden becomes what INS veteran Charlie McCloud calls a gladiator, who feels above the law. Hayden eventually cracks the wall of silence around the 1974 case, but he also busts illegal Miguel Chavez, who becomes an informant and who, along with his family, will transform Hayden’s life. Kading, who worked for the INS, handles the nitty-gritty of arrests, infighting among criminals, and politics well, but it’s the transformation of Hayden that most impresses. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"A knockout debut novel that takes the reader on a journey through the backstreets of Chicago and into the seldom seen world of illegal immigrants struggling to survive and an immigration system that has lost its way. Mirroring the chaos of our present world, it is also a story of one man’s redemption. Read it.” —Rick Collignon, author of The Journal of Antonio Montoya



“Miguel’s Gift is an excellent crime novel that details the underground world of ruthless counterfeiters who prey on the millions living in the shadows. Only someone with Bruce Kading’s experience and background can so meticulously bring to life the challenges in bringing these crime syndicates to justice, and provide the reader an inside glimpse of the different personalities of agents and interoffice politics that play a huge part in determining if an investigation is successful. Kading truly knows this field, and through Special Agent Nick Hayden and his informant Miguel, he expertly gives us a portrait of this shadowy world.” —Hipolito Acosta, author of The Shadow Catcher and The Hunt for Maan Singh



“Speeding toward a deadly climax, this is at once a bone-shaking thriller and a tale of redemption.” —West Suburban Living


"Kading, who worked for the INS, handles the nitty-gritty of arrests, infighting among criminals, and politics well, but it’s the transformation of Hayden that most impresses." —Publishers Weekly 


“Kading, a former agent of the FBI and INS, reveals the history of the period while telling an absorbing story of one agent’s search for truth and meaning in the 1980s.” —The St. Augustine Record



“. . . a consistently compelling thriller with deftly crafted and memorable characters. . .” —Midwest Book Review


“…the second half of the book gains drive and momentum.” —Kirkus Reviews


“With illegal immigration in the millions and debate at a raucous tenor, ‘Miguel’s Gift’ presents a more thoughtful and human look at the problem.” —Florida Times Union

From the Publisher

2017-01-23
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent uncovers what was really behind the arrest of an illegal immigrant that went awry.With 26 years of experience as an agent for the FBI, Environmental Protection Agency, and INS, author Kading delivers a debut thriller that, initially at least, promises a timely angle in its subject, illegal immigration. An opening prologue becomes the crux of the case: on patrol in Chicago in 1974, INS agents spot a Peruvian who appears to be, in agency vernacular, a "wet," or illegal immigrant. In the violent scuffle that ensues, the suspect is shot dead; but so, too, is one of the officers, and by his own gun. Thirteen years later, new agent Nick Hayden arrives at Chicago INS headquarters with "callowness in [his] eyes." Hayden works with 54-year-old Joe Willis, a hardened veteran who greets the rookie with something between "indifference and outright hostility." The pairing seldom moves beyond the schematic to develop the men's characters more fully. Hayden, in particular, is only sketched in as a law school dropout who's put his personal life on hold until he becomes a top agent. He also remains off scene for long stretches while Kading works in routine and familiar subplots that could be interchanged with any number of other thrillers. Chief among them is one that follows Salvador Rico, who traffics in counterfeit green cards, sparking a turf war among gangsters profiteering from the wave of immigrants arriving in Chicago. With the appearance of each new character, Hayden follows a by-the-numbers approach that turns to expository flashbacks that put a drag on momentum and, as written, do a lot more showing than telling. The plot remains largely unfocused for a good third of the book until attention shifts back to Hayden who, it appears, is certain the 1974 killing masks a major coverup. As he joins with the eponymous Miguel to uncover the story behind the shootout, the second half of the book gains drive and momentum. A long and winding road.

Kirkus Reviews