A True Story of Family, Murder, and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn't Quit
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.