Set in the shadowy world of illegal
immigration in Chicago, Miguel's
Gift by Bruce Kading
(Academy Chicago Publishers, 2017, 276 pages, $10.39, $9.87) tells
the story of agent Nicholas Hayden's joining the INS, his
probationary, year, and the progress of his career, beginning in
1987, spends nearly the first third of the book in a listless
narrative, without seeming character development or real action of
any kind. The book opens with a 1974 prologue resulting in the death
of agent Tom Kelso. Hayden, unusually well educated for a novice INS
agent, is, for some reason burrowing into the INS for undisclosed
reasons. Descriptions of “wets,” undocumented aliens from Mexico
and the rest of Latin America, who seem to dominate the world of
tortilla factories and pork slaughter houses is unpleasant, and cold
sounding. As the book is introduced, it's difficult to tell what
direction the story might take.
Slowly the story of Frank Kelso emerges
as Hayden, now deeply buried in the day-to-day business of an INS
investigator, becomes what his mentor had described as a “gladiator”
only four years before. When, at a retirement bash, the Kelso story
arises, Hayden is reminded why he joined the INS and buried himself
within it bureaucracy. At this point, about 40% into the book, there
still has not been any writing that would take the story above
pedestrian narrative, nor hint at the direction or perspective the
author wishes to assume. Hayden has broken the law in order to obtain
an unwarranted conviction and deportation, while rationalizing it all
to himself and seemingly losing track of his, so far, hidden motives
for joining in the first place. The
story emerges as an exploration of the problem of illegal
immigration and casual official enforcement which can never halt the
progress of illegal immigration.
However, as Nicholas Hayden progresses
in his career in the INS, he becomes an investigator and as such, is
involved the recruitment of an informant, who he begins to know on a
personal basis. As both case and the relationship develop, the reader
sees the role of working in the INS as being more nuanced and the
problems of working in an entrenched bureaucracy increasingly
complex. Senior agents have almost all advanced from early
experiences along the border, and many come from the Southwest. They
tend to believe that such experiences are necessary for an agent to
be effective. College educated agents, like Hayden, are not an asset.
Careerism is rampant, with older agents either ambitious for
promotion or merely doing their time until retirement at age
fifty-seven. The environment is poisoned with racism, cynicism, ant
outright laziness. Meanwhile, Hayden has an issue of his own. And the
illegal immigrants begin to take on a human face for both good and
evil. The plot, built on Hayden's search for evidence about
dissolution of his father's career becomes secondary to gaining an
understanding of life inside this difficult and broken bureaucracy.
Bruce Kading
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma, Bruce Kading began a twenty-six year career in federal law enforcement that included twenty-two years as a Special Agent with INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service), four years as a Special Agent with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and a brief stint with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). Much of his career with INS was devoted to targeting criminals who trafficked in counterfeit immigration documents, birth certificates, and other identity documents. While assigned to the Chicago and San Francisco field offices, he received several awards and commendations for leading undercover investigations into criminal organizations involved in counterfeiting activities. For four years he was assigned to the OCDETF (Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force) in Chicago, working closely with agents of other federal and local law enforcement agencies, including DEA, FBI, and the Illinois State Police. On numerous occasions Kading went “undercover” to purchase narcotics from drug dealers, many of whom were undocumented aliens involved in counterfeiting activities. When he retired, Kading was Chief of the Fraud Investigations Branch at the Chicago office.
After retiring from law enforcement, Kading became a licensed private investigator and a freelance writer, his articles appearing in numerous publications, including the Chicago Tribune and the Taos News. He received the E.H. Shaffer Award for Investigative Reporting from the New Mexico Press Association for a series of articles about the problem of DUI in New Mexico.
Kading continues writing and lives in St. Augustine, Florida with his wife, Lucy. (from profile on Amazon)
Miguel's
Gift by
Bruce Kading (Academy Chicago Publishers, 2017, 276 pages, $10.39,
$9.87) is a police procedural with something of a twist. It seeks
to follow an investigation into providing illegal documentation
distributed to Mexican and other Latin American immigrants in
Chicago. The action follows Nick Hayden as he joins the Immigration
and Naturalization Service and moves through the ranks over a period
of a few years before being assigned to a investigative unit, all the
time secretly seeking information about his father's failure a
generation earlier in the Service. Kading's narrative relies too
heavily on exposition rather than revealing character through action
and dialogue. Therefore, it lacks the narrative drive and engagement
that many more experienced writers provide. The book seems to be as
much an exploration of Kading's own life working within a tired,
overburdened, and too challenged bureaucracy, thus leading the reader
too much toward his own problems encountered in a long career with
the INS. I finished the novel more to find out how the writer
resolved his own problems than for the resolution of the mystery. I
received the book as a pre-publication digital edition from the
publisher through Edelweiss
and read it on my Kindle App
No comments:
Post a Comment