*SPOILERS*
I’m wondering about the role of Touhey in the novel. I wonder if he’s supposed to be a parody of David-Simon like figures, or if he’s a purely original creation of Price. It’s interesting to look through the eyes of an author as looking through the eyes of ANOTHER potential author. It’s especially interesting to see thatPrice creates characters highly critical of this figure that’s more of a nusance than anything else. Is it a critique of people outside of the worlds of Rocco and Strike–their lack of understanding? Does it go further and criticize how people may displace themselves from the communities they analyze (for example, Touhey looking at the drug and police communities as only fodder for his film), only to let them know that they, too have their weaknesses? For example, Touhey is revealed to be an alcoholic. Then Touhey just seems to disappear from the novel entirely. I’m not sure what to make of his absense from the rest of the novel since I assuemed he would play some larger role in Rocco, if not Strike’s, life. Was this just a narrative decision on Price’s part, or does Touhey’s disappearance have further implacations for the meaning of the book?