Relentless Pursuit: The Official Weblog
Contact the Author
Category: About the Author
You can contact Kevin Flynn directly at the following email address: relentless.p@gmail.com.
Relentless Pursuit Nominated for Edgar Award
Category: About the Book
On January 18, 2008, the Mystery Writers of America named Relentless Pursuit as one of five nominees for its prestigious Edgar Allen Poe Award in the category of "fact crime." The Edgar Awards honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television and film published or produced in 2007.
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About the Book
Category: About the Book
On a cool night in late spring 1993, Diane Hawkins and her 13-year-old daughter Katrina were brutally murdered in their own home by Diane's ex-boyfriend, Norman Harrell. The reason: Diane had taken Harrell to assert her legal right to child support, and he visited the ultimate vengeance upon her and her daughter. RELENTLESS PURSUIT tells the heroic story of these two innocent victims, and how the author, federal prosecutor Kevin Flynn, partnered with law-enforcement forces to bring their killer to justice and deliver closure to a family and community devastated by this horrible crime.
In telling Diane Hawkins' story,
A Discussion with Kevin Flynn, Author of Relentless Pursuit
Category: About the Author
From a January 29, 2007conversation between Katherine Grinch of G.P. Putnam and Relentless Pursuit author Kevin Flynn:
KG: Why does this case matter today, do you see similar crimes like this in the news?
KF: It's a sad fact of the human condition that cruelty of the kind that is described in this book has been with us since the beginning of human history. When you work as a prosecutor in a big city, you're constantly exposed to the worst of human nature - granted, most crimes we see are not nearly as brutal as the murders of Diane Hawkins and Katrina Harris were, but many aren't that far off. On the other hand,
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In His Own Words: Kevin Flynn, Author of Relentless Pursuit
Category: About the Author
I have a feeling I'll still be writing about this case, and all the experiences that came with it, until I'm 80 years old.
I knew from the very beginning - when I was called to court to handle the first hearing, and I knew the case would be mine from then on - that this was like nothing I ever had worked on, or ever would again, for that matter. Not so much because of the defendant - even though I now see the extent to which I became obsessed with bringing him to justice - but because of the victims, and what I came to know about them as people, and what I came to know about the horrors of their last moments on earth.
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Washington Post Profiles Relentless Pursuit Author
Category: About the Book
In its March 6, 2007 issue, the Washington Post featured a lengthy profile of Relentless Pursuit author Kevin Flynn. The article begins:
It took Kevin Flynn just over a year to put away the man who killed Diane Hawkins and her 13-year-old daughter, Katrina Harris.It has taken him almost 14 years to put to paper the story of that night in 1993 when Norman Harrell took the lives -- and the hearts -- of Hawkins, who was his ex-girlfriend, and her daughter.
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Relentless Pursuit Released in Paperback on March 1, 2008
Category: About the Book
Relentless Pursuit hit bookstores in paperback format on or about March 1, 2008. The paperback publishing house, Berkley Books -- part of the Penguin Group, along with hardback publishers G.P. Putnam's Sons -- will distribute a total of 42,000 copies
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Selected Upcoming Events in Connection With Publication of Relentless Pursuit
Category: Upcoming Book Events
August 2008-- Appearance before North Carolina Victim Assistance Network, Sunset Beach, NC
The Washington Post Raves About Relentless Pursuit: "Works On Many Levels"
Category: Reviews
From the Washington Post of February 26, 2007:
"Fascinating...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. [Flynn] reminds us of all those 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."
Clich here for full text of the Washington Post's review.
USAToday Raves About Relentless Pursuit: "As Powerful as a Grisham Thriller"
Category: Reviews
In its March 8, 2007 issue, USAToday said that Relentless Pursuit "(is) a true-crime story told with the dauntless energy and readability of a heart-palpitating thriller, " and its descriptions and developments "are as powerful as anything in a John Grisham legal thriller."
For the full review click here.
The Washington Times Raves About Relentless Pursuit: "A Page-Turner and an Eye-Opener"
Category: Reviews
In its March 4, 2007 edition, in a review entitled, "PROSECUTOR REVISITS D.C. TRIAL IN VIVID LEGAL THRILLER,"
THe Washington Times published its unqualified endorsement of Relentless Pursuit:
"Mr. Flynn ... writes with an unremitting emphasis on hard fact that makes his account not just a page-turner but an eye-opener as well. Mr. Flynn tells the story with a vivid attention to detail that would be quite difficult for a novelist to match ... Mr. Flynn's disturbingly real portrait of 1990s D.C. street culture, and of the immense efforts required to do justice in just one case, generates and sustains intense interest in the outcome of criminal investigation -- an outcome that is genuinely in doubt throughout the book just as it was throughout the trial. But many readers will find even more to like in the way Mr. Flynn attends to the convergence of so many seemingly independent lives."
Denver Post Raves About Relentless Pursuit: "A Dense and Satisfying Read, Educating and Entertaining"
Category: Reviews
From the May 11, 2007 edition of the Denver Post:
"Ten years after a horrific double murder, earnest and committed Kevin Flynn, a 36 year-old Washington, D.C., assistant district attorney, has written a book describing his biggest and most memorable case. Writing a nonfiction book that reads like a novel is no small feat. Flynn, however, manages to bring tension and suspense to a story that is not so much a whodunit as a 'how do we prove he did it and not let him get away with murder' ...
Washington Lawyer Raves About Relentless Pursuit
In its May 2007 issue, Washington Lawyer -- the magazine for members of the District of Columbia Bar Association, reaching thousands of readers each month -- wrote this about Relentless Pursuit: "Criminal trials provide unique drama. Many good trial lawyers are good storytellers, and Kevin Flynn, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, is one ... The story of a brutal double murder, its investigation, and the people in and out of the system who were touched by the case is insightful in its explanation of the workings of the District of Columbia criminal justice system ... Relentless Pursuit is a riveting and touching story that will leave the reader admiring Flynn and the police and detectives who worked with him on the case."
For the full review of Relentless Pursuit in the May 2007 issue of Washington Lawyer, click here. l
Publishers Weekly Raves About Relentless Pursuit in a STARRED REVIEW: "A Fascinating, Rewarding Story"
Category: Reviews
In a review that is posted on the Amazon.com site for Relentless Pursuit, Publishers' Weekly joins other publications praising the book, giving it a coveted star:
In this true crime narrative, prosecutor Flynn presents a "story of extremes ... humanity at its most brutal and noble,"
More Raves For Relentless Pursuit
From the blog "Curled Up With a Good Book": "Engaging, gripping and filled with facts ... For this reader, the highlights of the book are two-fold: the prosecutor did get his suspect and the jury found him guilty, and the relationship between the lawyer and his client(s) was amazing and heart-warming ...
Relentless Pursuit Reviews From Bloggers
Category: Reviews
Rave reviews of Relentless Pursuit were posted by bloggers who read copies in advance of publication.
Cllick here to read review of Relentless Pursuit in Sarah Wineman's "Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind." Wineman is an editor for GalleyCat, mediabistro.com's publishing industry news blog, and the Baltimore Sun's crime fiction columnist.
Click here to read the review in "Harriet Klausner's Review Archive." Klausner is the most prolific reviewer on Amazon.com and was recently profiled in Time Magazine.
Tucson Citizen Raves About Relentless Pursuit: "One of the Most Exciting True Crime Rides of the Year."
Category: Reviews
From the March 8, 2007 Tucson (AZ) Citizen:
Kevin Flynn slams the literary ball out of the park during his very first time at bat. In his debut book, he documents the harrowing but inspirational story of how he - as a federal homicide prosecutor - brought a killer to justice. This is no simple story of a routine murder, however. It is written with such authenticity, it collars the reader and slams him in the back seat of a police cruiser for one of the most exciting true crime rides of the year.
The review concludes:
Washingtonian Magazine Raves About Relentless Pursuit: "A Page-Turning Read"
Category: Reviews
From Washingtonian Magazine of March 2007:
"Kevin Flynn's 'Relentless Pursuit' is everything you want in a crime novel -- a terrible crime followed by a hunt for justice starring a a near-obsessive prosecutor, gritty street cops, a victim's troubled family, and a monstrous criminal. But it's all true. The debut book by a prosecutor in the U.S.Attorney's Office in D.C. focuses on a case from a decade ago - from the crime to the trial and beyond. Taking place in neighborhoods across the region, the book shows the tireless efforts of the criminal justice system and the shadowy world out there. A page-turning read."
Relentless Pursuit and Author Are Defended Against New York Times' Personal Attacks
Category: Reviews
On 3/2/07, influential blogger Judging Crimes responded to Janet Maslin's ad hominem attack on the author of Relentless Pursuit -- a review that stands alone among all reviews issued to date about this book in any publication or by any author or blogger. "It's perhaps not really surprising," the response reads, "that Maslin, in her book-lined cocoon of privilege, is unable to understand what Flynn is writing about. But too bad that she's so nasty in her ignorance. The Washington Post's reviewer was prepared to read the book as it is, rather than the novel it isn't, and gets a lot closer to its essence."
Relentless Pursuit Reviews From Best-Selling Authors
Category: Reviews
"Relentless Pursuit" has received rave reviews from best-selling authors who read the book in advance of publication.
From Jonathan Harr, author of "A Civil Action":
"This true story about one prosecutor's obsession will capture you and keep you reading until late in the night. It reads like the best of fictional crime thrillers, but it's better because it's real."
From George Pelecanos, author of "The Night Gardener":
"RELENTLESS PURSUIT is a memoir and law enforcement procedural that reads like a thriller.
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January 08, 2007
By Staff Writer
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