BETRAYAL AT THE BORDER

Some Michigan lawyers help two desperate families fight terrorists and American immigration policy in this seventh installment of a thriller series.

Miguel and Mary Carmen Gonzalez have feared that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would come for them someday. The Venezuelan immigrants built a life in Lincoln Park, Michigan, on visas that have since expired. After detaining the couple, ICE unexpectedly picks up their American-born children as well. The Gonzalez family’s community hires attorney Zack Blake, but his firm has trouble even finding the kids, locked away in a detention center somewhere, notwithstanding their United States citizenship. In a concurrent plot, naturalized American citizen Canan Izady travels to Syria so her daughter can finally meet her grandmother. The Islamic State group apparently remains in the country, despite stories to the contrary, and armed men abduct the women to hold them for ransom. Zack steps in once again but this time in another capacity—he funds a private security company to launch a rescue mission. Both cases wind up in a U.S. courtroom, with hopes of reuniting Miguel and Mary Carmen’s family as well as lending a hand to a Syrian ally. Series regular Zack, as in previous outings, proves a smart, able lawyer. But he has dependable colleagues: Marshall Mann, who heads the firm’s immigration division, and, to a lesser extent, top associate Amy Fletcher. They’re always ready to argue, even with no judge in sight, but the copious dialogue is more delightfully down-to-earth than legalese. Zack, for example, tries to alleviate a heated exchange: “Let’s lower the temperature a bit.” Bello aptly parallels the dual plots; being taken hostage in war-torn Syria differs little from ICE cramming immigrants into cages with scant food and no air conditioning. He also weaves suspense and some action into the story without derailing the judicial process that the series highlights.

A lively legal tale boasting an indelible cast and topical social issues.