Miguel's Gift: A Novel [Paperback]

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. 

“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 ofThe Journal of Antonio Montoya

“Miguel’s Giftis 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 anl¸