Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Justice? You get justice in the next world. In this word, March 1, 2007
you have the law." William Gaddis, "A Frolic of His Own"
There is often a very real and sometimes troubling dichotomy between our individual concept of `justice' and the practical application of `the law'. But every now and again I come across something that strips away a bit of the cynicism I have acquired during my practice of law. Kevin Flynn's "Relentless Pursuit" is one such instance.
Federal prosecutors, policemen, and emergency room surgeons have a lot in common. They are in a dirty business filled with blood, gore and death. Those that remain in their chosen career need to develop a hard shell, usually marked by outward signs of cynicism and the use of gallows humor to show the world and their colleagues that they are doing just fine. But every now and again something happens that has such a profound impact on the lives of these professionals that it tears away the shell of the even the most hardened veteran. Kevin Flynn was handed such a case over the Memorial Day weekend in 1993. It was a gruesome double homicide. A mother, Diane Hawkins, and her teenage daughter Katrina had been found brutally murdered in their D.C. home. They were stabbed repeatedly and the details of the stabbings were such that even veteran D.C. homicide detectives had trouble dealing with the crime scene. Kevin Flynn's emotionally compelling and very well-written book, "Relentless Pursuit: A True Story of Family, Murder and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn't Quit" tells Flynn's story of the police investigation and the arrest and trial of the man accused of the crime. It was a case in which Flynn sought not only to serve `the law' but also to provide the victims and their families with some sense that `justice' had been served.
"Relentless Pursuit" follows three interconnected story lines: the police investigation, arrest and subsequent trial of the murder suspect; Flynn's relationship with the extended family of the victims; and Flynn's home life. Each story line is well-presented. The details of the homicide investigation, the detention and ultimate arrest of the murder suspect are handled very well. Particularly well-drawn is the extensive trial preparation and description of the trial itself. Flynn covers some complex points of law and procedure very well and you don't need to be a trial attorney to understand what Flynn is talking about. Flynn's account of the trial, culminating in his cross-examination of the defendant and the jury verdict reads like a thriller. It is compelling. Flynn's description of his relationship with Diane Hawkin's family was even more compelling. The contrasts in personality and outlook between Flynn (white, suburban Irish-Catholic) and the Hawkins family (African-American, inner-city, Baptist) are stark. Ultimately, their communality of interest is greater than what sets them apart and the bond they form is remarkably strong, if transient. Last, Flynn's details of his family and the trials all families go through during stressful times in their lives add to the picture we get of Flynn and the world in which he worked.
Books of this sort can sometimes fall too heavily on the side of self-congratulation. I've read too many books that seem to be nothing more than shameless self promotion of `the next great lawyer'. "Relentless Pursuit" does not fall into that category. I could not help but think that Flynn wrote this book because he felt he had to write it. "Relentless Pursuit" is not a puff piece about Flynn's skills as a prosecutor (although Flynn's talents seem undeniable). It seems to me that in a very real sense Flynn felt that `justice' demanded that the story of Diane Hawkins and her daughter Katrina be told. It is sometimes said that the Hebrew words for `peace' and `justice' are interconnected. There can be no peace without justice. It seems to me that Flynn's prosecution of this case brought some peace to the family of Diane Hawkins. Flynn, in this instance at least, put the justice back in the `criminal justice system'.
Highly recommended. L. Fleisig
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An unusual perspective for a true-crime book., September 29, 2007
True crime, sometimes, is far less interesting to read than crime fiction. In fiction, the author has many choices that a true crime writer doesn't. Fiction can place the reader inside the mind of the killer and/or inside the mind of the victim. Seldom is the author of a true crime book given that opportunity. Some writers can speculate with a great deal of seeming accuracy. That's not the road that Kevin Flynn takes in his book.
RELENTLESS PURSUIT is told from the perspective of an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, DC; he is prosecuting a man for the brutal murder of a woman and her daughter
Diane Hawkins and Katrina Harris were murdered in May of 1993. The trial took place over a year later, in August of 1994. This may seem like a speedy trial, all things considered. The family of Diane Hawkins and Katrina Harris didn't think so; they knew right away who had killed these two people and had a difficult time with the slow and measured pace of the legal process. It took cool heads to persuade some members of the family not to take justice into their own hands.
RELENTLESS PURSUIT is not the best true crime out there; Flynn can be redundant and verbose. The story he tells, however, is compelling and fascinating. It is unclear until the verdict is delivered in court whether or not he has done his job as a prosecutor. And the reader does want to know the verdict. While the case is already decided in the minds of the reader (probably) and in Flynn's mind, he makes us all too aware of the realities of a jury trial, the complexities of presenting a good case, and how little things can undermine the best presentation.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well-written and compelling book, April 24, 2007
Kevin Flynn is a homicide prosecutor in a city that has one of the highest homicide rates in the country, Washington, D.C. Being surrounded constantly with stories and photographs of death and murder, you would think he would have grown a thick skin, learned to objectify the cases and move through them in a detached manner.
But this case was different. The murders of 40-year-old Diane and 13-year-old Katrina Hawkins left a lasting impression on everyone associated with the case. Their murder investigation was one of the most brutal that police and prosecutors ever worked. Over a year after the crime occurred, during the trial, Detected Combee would still grow quiet when testifying about what he saw in the Hawkins house that day.
But this case is not about the terrible method these two victims were murdered. To quote from the book:
It's a story of extremes: the worst and the best the world can offer, humanity at its most brutal and most noble. It's the story of two families -- mine and another from a world that I thought I knew but didn't -- two families full of ordinary people who did their best under awful circumstances.
Relentless Pursuit does indeed follow the Hawkins case, from the initial night of the murders May 25, 1993 to the prosecution in August 15, 1994. But there is much more to the case than just the horror and the story of how they caught the man responsible.
This is also the story of the Hawkins and Flynn families, which became irrevocably linked together. The Hawkins family suffered one of the worst losses a family can, the loss of both a sister and strong influence in the family, and a child, who had just begun to show her gifts and talents to the world. But through it all, they clung to their faith in God, which also served to help their new-found family member, prosecutor Kevin Flynn.
The Flynn family though, was going through its own trials. Kevin's mother was suffering from depression and shortly after he began work on this monumnetal case, his father was stricken with cancer. Through the entire case, Kevin is required to balance his work and family life, including his wife and child, and try not to let anyone down. And part of that includes the Hawkins, who look to him as the only man that can bring them any measure of justice on Earth.
The book is told in a compelling style, taking us through the case, from the night the murders occurred through the entire case. There are procedural sections to the book, such as descriptions of how certain courtroom processes work, but that does not get in the way to the story, which is what the book is really all about.
Relentless Pursuit is not a book for those looking to learn about how the law really works, but you will learn a great deal about how the defense and prosecution work together and against one another, how much power a judge can wield, and some of the reasons why cases don't work out as cleanly as they do on television.
In the end, this book is just what the quotation above says, it is a story of two families. And it is an excellent book.
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