Who is Paul Manning from Dead in the Water: A Novel and what is their importance?

Paul Manning is a writer of thriller and mystery novels. Paul Manning is rich. However, Manning spends as much money as he makes, so he lives from check to check taking out loans from banks. Manning also has a very large life insurance policy. This policy is the largest his company has ever written on a single individual and the payments are the largest payments Manning makes on a monthly basis. Allison explains this by saying that her husband loved her and wanted her well cared for upon his death. In the end, however, the reader learns Manning did this so he could fake his death and live on the money.