Relentless Pursuit

Starred review from December 31, 2007
In this true crime narrative, prosecutor Flynn presents a “story of extremes... humanity at its most brutal and noble,†and if one can withstand the bleak proceedings—including detailed descriptions of the horrific double murder of a mother and daughter—this title has much to offer. In 1993, Flynn was a 36-year-old U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., when he was assigned to a case involving the murders of Diane Hawkins and her 13-year-old daughter, Katrina Harris. All signs pointed to Norman Harrell, Hawkins's former boyfriend and the father of one of her sons; the murders occurred just days before Hawkins was to meet Harrell in court over a child support dispute. As Flynn works through the tumultuous early days of the trial, he's surprised by the affection and faith of the “populous Hawkins clan,†and prodded on by thoughts of his own wife and child. Against a backdrop of everyday life and domestic complications—including his father's diagnosis with lung cancer—the prosecutor chronicles the case in meticulous detail, taking readers step by step through the unfolding courtroom drama. The portrait of Harrell that emerges is chilling; remarking on their similarities (both prosecutor and defendant have “loner's soulsâ€), Flynn surmises that something “had been horribly miswired in him. And the sad thing was, I don't think he ever knew it.†Flynn's is a fascinating, rewarding story of one attorney's dogged determination to exact justice.

Starred review from March 5, 2007
In this true crime narrative, prosecutor Flynn presents a "story of extremes ... humanity at its most brutal and noble," and if one can withstand the bleak proceedings-including detailed descriptions of the horrific double murder of a mother and daughter-this title has much to offer. In 1993, Flynn was a 36-year-old U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., when he was assigned to a case involving the murders of Diane Hawkins and her 13-year-old daughter, Katrina Harris. All signs point to Norman Harrell, Hawkins' former boyfriend and the father of one of her sons; the murders occurred just days before Hawkins was to meet Harrell in court over a child support dispute. As Flynn works through the tumultuous early days of the trial, he's surprised by the affection and faith of the "populous Hawkins clan," and prodded on by thoughts of his own wife and child. Against a backdrop of everyday life and domestic complications-including his father's diagnosis with lung cancer-the prosecutor chronicles the case in meticulous detail, taking readers step by step through the unfolding courtroom drama. The portrait of Harrell that emerges is chilling; remarking on their similarities (both prosecutor and defendant have "loner's souls"), Flynn surmises that something "had been horribly miswired in him. And the sad thing was, I don't think he ever knew it." Flynn's is a fascinating, rewarding story of one attorney's dogged determination to exact justice.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2007
Flynn, a prosecutor in the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office, lays out the anatomy of building a case, bringing it to trial, and successfully prosecuting it. What saves his account from becoming either a first-person exercise in egomania or a dull graphing of procedure is Flynn's passion for prosecuting a particular case. In 1993, on a day when Diane Hawkins was to appear in court to sue her husband for child support, she and her daughter were savagely murdered. Appalled at the brutality of the murder, Flynn resolved to get the killer. As he recounts what happened, we learn about the importance of getting out and talking to people and of seeing the scene: "Every murder case is just a story," he writes, "and every story happens in a place." Flynn also confesses his uncertainties about how to tackle the case and a great deal about his personal life; the latter seems extraneous at first but leads to how this case and the remarkable family of the victims changed him. Flynn is an engaging (though sometimes verbose) tour guide through the criminal underworld.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)