Miguel’s Gift

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. [em](Apr.) [/em]