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Middlemen
Toronto, 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.
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.
384 pages, Paperback
Published October 15, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
Set in Toronto, Middlemen follows a group of people whose lives are tangled up in addiction, money, ambition, and the choices they’ve made along the way. When Beau travels to California to reconnect with someone from his past, old relationships and resentments start resurfacing, pulling several characters back into each other’s orbit.
I highlighted so many things in this book that I eventually started writing whole passages in my journal so that I could sit with them a little longer. That probably says more about my experience with Middlemen than any rating could.
I’ve had my own on-and-off struggle with addiction for nearly 20 years, and I’m currently 20 months clean, so some of the writing around addiction and the strange cycles that come with it hit very close to home. There’s something painfully familiar about watching a person recognize what they’ve become while still feeling completely caught inside it. The book doesn’t make those experiences feel simple or tidy, and I appreciated that.
The writing made this special. There’s so much I wanted to underline, reread, or write down somewhere. The author has a way of getting inside these characters’ heads and capturing the uncomfortable spaces between wanting something, needing something, and realizing that the thing you thought would save you might be another version of the same cycle.
I also loved the way Toronto is woven into the story. It feels like much more than a setting. There’s this sense of people being pulled along by the city, by money, by ambition, by addiction, by relationships, and sometimes by all of those things at once.
This is a tumultuous, deeply introspective book, and I think that’s a big part of why it's staying with me. I really enjoyed and appreciated it.
Thank you so much to @river_street_writes & Maria Chicosz for the #gifted arc copy! All opinions are my own.
I highlighted so many things in this book that I eventually started writing whole passages in my journal so that I could sit with them a little longer. That probably says more about my experience with Middlemen than any rating could.
I’ve had my own on-and-off struggle with addiction for nearly 20 years, and I’m currently 20 months clean, so some of the writing around addiction and the strange cycles that come with it hit very close to home. There’s something painfully familiar about watching a person recognize what they’ve become while still feeling completely caught inside it. The book doesn’t make those experiences feel simple or tidy, and I appreciated that.
The writing made this special. There’s so much I wanted to underline, reread, or write down somewhere. The author has a way of getting inside these characters’ heads and capturing the uncomfortable spaces between wanting something, needing something, and realizing that the thing you thought would save you might be another version of the same cycle.
I also loved the way Toronto is woven into the story. It feels like much more than a setting. There’s this sense of people being pulled along by the city, by money, by ambition, by addiction, by relationships, and sometimes by all of those things at once.
This is a tumultuous, deeply introspective book, and I think that’s a big part of why it's staying with me. I really enjoyed and appreciated it.
Thank you so much to @river_street_writes & Maria Chicosz for the #gifted arc copy! All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Middlemen by Marie Cichosz
An emotionally gripping story of love, regret, friendship, addiction and selfishness. The novel centers on five characters entangled in complicated relationships: Beau, a photographer struggling with drug addiction, Cam, a depressed professor, Cliff, a real estate agent, Val, a medium and Cliff’s girlfriend and Stacey, Cam’s girlfriend.
Cichosz is masterful at character development. She captures their inner struggles and the intimate connections between them, drawing the reader deeply into their lives and relationships. These are messy, deeply flawed people, and Cichosz brings them vividly to life through their insecurities, shame, self serving choices and profound longing for connection. Beau’s downward spiral is one of the most realistic portrayals of drug addiction I’ve ever read. Cichosz captures how the drug comes to consumes every aspect of his life and soul, rendering him a shell of who he once was. Yet despite his selfish cruelty it’s hard not to root for him.
The relationship between Beau and Cam is poignant with the love and longing palpable on the page. They seem fated to be together, yet Cichosz masterfully conveys the fear that, ultimately their relationship may destroy them both.
A powerful, captivating and deeply moving story of addiction, the intensity of first love and the fragility of friendships.
An emotionally gripping story of love, regret, friendship, addiction and selfishness. The novel centers on five characters entangled in complicated relationships: Beau, a photographer struggling with drug addiction, Cam, a depressed professor, Cliff, a real estate agent, Val, a medium and Cliff’s girlfriend and Stacey, Cam’s girlfriend.
Cichosz is masterful at character development. She captures their inner struggles and the intimate connections between them, drawing the reader deeply into their lives and relationships. These are messy, deeply flawed people, and Cichosz brings them vividly to life through their insecurities, shame, self serving choices and profound longing for connection. Beau’s downward spiral is one of the most realistic portrayals of drug addiction I’ve ever read. Cichosz captures how the drug comes to consumes every aspect of his life and soul, rendering him a shell of who he once was. Yet despite his selfish cruelty it’s hard not to root for him.
The relationship between Beau and Cam is poignant with the love and longing palpable on the page. They seem fated to be together, yet Cichosz masterfully conveys the fear that, ultimately their relationship may destroy them both.
A powerful, captivating and deeply moving story of addiction, the intensity of first love and the fragility of friendships.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews