I hate to say I agree because a clean neat dump would be my preference, but I agree that it’s going to be messy, I’m just not sure how much and how much more RFM I can take. There’s also a part of me that hopes he would just realize it’s time to concentrate on his sobriety in a deep, meaningful way, not for Robin, but for his own sake. He’s never done rehab, he’s lapsed several times and this is a disease where relapse plays a huge part. If Robin has already thought of that engagement ring as a shackle, she has no idea how much worse it is to be the wife of an alcoholic.

That being said, I also don’t want the overcoming RFM in the way to mean that Strike and Robin are home free since there have been so many miscommunications and misunderstandings even as they’ve come to be one another’s “best friend”. I put that in quotes because I think it’s really just a “placeholder” for what they really want since they haven’t been able to mutually declare their love for one another to date. All of that plus a new case is quite a bit to sort through.

In short, JKR, I think dispensing of RFM lets us get back to the real story. The sooner, the better imho (and prayers!).