Prior to the events of the novel, Strike lost his right leg in an explosion while serving as a military policeman in Afghanistan. He has been fitted with a prosthetic that causes him a significant amount of physical and emotional discomfort. Several times throughout the text, the end of the amputation becomes enflamed due to overexertion or falling. Further, he frequently is the recipient of comments and questions that are well-meaning but overwhelm him and make him feel less than. He even goes so far as to hide the truth of his disability from Robin, feeling uncomfortable sharing something so emotionally intimate with her.

Strike’s prosthetic leg represents his struggle with self-care and emotional closeness. Following his accident, he is uninterested in taking care of himself, instead devoting himself to his business so that he can find a sense of purpose following his exit from the military. He infrequently takes care of his amputation, only paying attention to it when it is in active pain. Charlotte was the only person he was comfortable having emotional and physical intimacy with, a comfortability that was disrupted during their breakup. The result is that Strike emotionally distances himself from others, ignoring his emotional concerns just like he ignores his prosthetic.