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.
Industry Reviews
"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
"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
"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
"...the second half of the book gains drive and momentum." --Kirkus Reviews
"So I recommend this book strongly as an emotionally honest way to look at both the human and the criminal sides of immigration crime." --Kingdom Books, Mysteries
"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
