@JKRsBarmyBooks Went to get myself a cup of tea and missed this! So - great question, but a little black and white. Has he used women? Definitely, though only once did the woman realise she was being used (Nina) and she had it out with him, too. Is he a good man? I'd say he's a flawed good man.

@JKRsBarmyBooks I think Strike mounts his own best defence while he's thinking about Madeline, while in the car with Robin. He thinks that 'people use each other all the time' - which wouldn't be my personal view, but it's his best means of justifying his own behaviour to himself.

@JKRsBarmyBooks I think he's broken in ways he doesn't want to deal with, which makes him compartmentalise to an extent that's increasingly damaging (to himself as well as others) and unsustainable.

@JKRsBarmyBooks I can't promise he won't make any more lousy emotional choices going forwards, but the IBH is a watershed moment for him. Something fundamental has changed. It's just a shame (for him) it took him this long!