The apple was meant to take away the bitter taste, perhaps,” he said.
“I imagine that Mr. Turing wasn’t exactly looking for a taste experience,” said Corell.
“Man always tries to limit his suffering.

All great characters, great icons, in literature are a bit of a riddle, and that's the reason we go back to them over and over.

What is there left once you have lost your manliness?

The beautiful thing is I have sort of grown up. I don't care if I'm highbrow or not anymore.

If you have an extreme character, you need normal characters to contrast them. Sherlock Holmes certainly needed a Dr. Watson. And Pippi Longstocking, who supposedly inspired Lisbeth Salander, needed Tommy and Annika, the normal middle-class neighbors.

A conventional crime story is simple - it's just a corpse in the river or something, and a detective with an alcohol problem.