Toronto, mid-2010s: the economy is tanking, the opioid crisis is about to explode, and Beau Larky is drifting through the city in a drug-fuelled haze, photographing extravagant weddings in order to bankroll his habit. When he learns that Cam, his former roommate and one-time lover—now a celebrity academic on the West Coast—has suffered a breakdown, Beau is seized by an unexpected need to see him after years of silence. His impulsive trip to California ignites the resentment of Stacey, the professor’s soon-to-be wife, and Cliff, their former drug dealer turned real-estate shark, now too busy riding the housing boom to care about anything but the market.

To “middle” is to sell drugs to support one’s own habit, but also to linger, to stall, to refuse to decide. Middlemen is a dark, unflinching story about class, distance, addiction, and the blurry line between human and financial relationships. Above all, it is a break-up letter to Toronto, the novel’s meanest character.