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RELENTLESS PURSUIT
by Kevin Flynn
G.P. Putnam’s, March 2007
384 pages
$25.95
ISBN: 039915406X


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

If you like true crime, and you think Ann Rule is the standard by which true crime writers should be judged, then Kevin Flynn may not be the author for you. His perspective is very different. He’s an Assistant US Attorney in Washington DC. Already you know that he sees enough crime in one week to last most people a lifetime.

The case of Diane Hawkins and Katrina Harris really got to Flynn. He was still fairly new on the job, and the murders were particularly horrendous. Both victims were mutilated: Hawkins was eviscerated and her daughter Katrina’s heart had been cut out of her body and never found. They had an extended family, all of whom were outraged and very upset. There was an obvious suspect; the family was pretty much convinced an old boyfriend had killed Diane because she was taking him to court for child support. Flynn pursues this obvious lead, among numerous others, and eventually someone is brought to trial.

RELENTLESS PURSUIT is Kevin Flynn’s story of the case, from the history that preceded the murders through to the trial. It is very detailed, sometimes redundantly so, and still very interesting. Flynn shows us the frustrations and support of the family as they deal with the seemingly glacial movement of the case, the work that the police do in order to get the necessary evidence (and lots of extraneous information) for the trial, the judicial proceedings and the frustrations encountered with that process.

For the most part, Flynn does not take the reader inside the minds of the people in the case – killer, victims, witnesses – unless he has some kind of verbal or written authentication for that process. The reader does learn an awful lot about Flynn and what else was going on in his life during the course of the Hawkins/Harris case. Sometimes it is very relevant, sometimes not.

RELENTLESS PURSUIT does suffer from some excess verbiage, but considering the author is a lawyer, it’s not too bad. There are many true crime books out there for the reader who craves them; this book has a different outlook and is worth the time spent reading it.

Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, April 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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