Prosecutor (and first-time author) Kevin Flynn acknowledges that sometimes he becomes too absorbed in his duties: "The only time I was ever hurt on the job was when I was walking down my office corridor, preoccupied with a case, and cracked open my head when I took a corner too hard." Fortunately, Flynn's devotion to justice usually ends in stinging convictions, not painful bruises. His suspenseful Relentless Pursuit takes us through his most gripping case, the gruesome murder of a mother of five and one of her daughters. In unforgettable prose, he discovers the entire knotty process, from the discovery of bloody scene through the trial and verdict.

Relentless Pursuit works well on many levels: as a police procedural and courtroom drama, as a candid portrait of life in black Washington and as an example of how decent people of both races can work together against the violence that threatens us all. The recent past has not been kind to America's prosecutors; the growing number of innocent people freed from prison by DNA testing has demonstrated that at least some are overzealous, incompetent or simply corrupt. Relentless Pursuit reminds us of all those other prosecutors who are honest, skilled and fighting to protect society from monsters. One does not ask that they also be good writers, but in Flynn's case that's an unexpected bonus.
— The Washington Post

Not just a page-turner but an eye-opener as well... A great story, to be sure, but also with a fascinating window into this darkest of places in human nature... Flynn tells the story with a vivid attention to detail that would be quite difficult for a novelist to match.

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 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. (Mar.)