The Doorman, Chris Pavone
The Doorman, Chris Pavone
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The Doorman
A Novel

Author: Chris Pavone

Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini

Unabridged: 12 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/20/2025


Synopsis

A pulse-pounding novel of class, privilege, sex, and murder, from the New York Times bestselling author of Two Nights in Lisbon and The Expats.

"This novel is way better than good.... Cynical, tender, sharp, dense, funny, and loaded with inside dope about how New York works (and how it doesn’t)." —Stephen King

Chicky Diaz is everyone’s favorite doorman at the Bohemia, the most famous apartment house in the world, home of celebrities, financiers, and New York’s cultural elite.

Up in the penthouse, Emily Longworth has the perfect-looking everything, all except her husband, whom she’d quietly loathed even before the recent revelations about where all the money comes from. But his wealth is immense, their prenup is iron-clad, and Emily can’t bring herself to leave him. Yet.

And downstairs in 2a, Julian Sonnenberg—who has carved himself a successful niche in the art world, and led a good half-century of a full and satisfying, cosmopolitan life—has just received a devastating phone call that does nothing at all to alleviate his sense that, probably for better and worse, he has aged out and he’s just not that useful to anyone any more.

Meanwhile, gathered in the Bohemia’s bowels, the building’s almost entirely Black and Hispanic, working-class staff is taking in the news that that just a few miles uptown, a Black man has been killed by the police, leading to a demonstration, a counterdemonstration, and a long night of violence across the tinderbox city.

As Chicky changes into his uniform for tonight’s shift, he finds himself breaking a cardinal rule of the job: tonight, he’ll be carrying a gun, bought only hours earlier, but before he knew of the pandemonium taking over the city. Chicky knows that there’s more going on in his patch of sidewalk in front of the Bohemia than anyone’s aware of. Tonight in the city, enemies will clash, loyalties will be tested, secrets will be revealed—and lives will be lost.

This program is read by award-winning narrator Edoardo Ballerini, called "a master in his field" (The New York Times) and "in a class by himself" (Oprah Daily).

A Macmillan Audio production from MCD Books.

About Chris Pavone

Chris Pavone is the author of The Paris Diversion, The Travelers, The Accident, and The Expats. His novels have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal; have won both the Edgar and Anthony awards; are in development for film and television; and have been translated into two dozen languages. Chris grew up in Brooklyn, graduated from Cornell, and worked as a book editor for nearly two decades. He lives in New York City and on the North Fork of Long Island with his family.

About Edoardo Ballerini

Edoardo Ballerini is an American writer, director, film producer and actor.  He has won many awards for his audiobook narration; within only a few years after beginning his narrating career, he won several AudioFile Earphones Awards for his work, including Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve: How The World Became Modern, Jodi Picoult’s The Storyteller and Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins.   He narrated Kenzaburo Oe’s Nobel Prize Winning Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids, Joseph Finder’s The Moscow Club as well as works by John Edward and Daniel Stashower.   In television and film, he is best known for his role in The Sopranos, 24, I Shot Andy Warhol, Dinner Rush and Romeo Must Die. The silky-voiced Ballerini is trained in theater and continues to do much work on stage.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Dennis on March 21, 2025

THE DOORMAN is my first read by Chris Pavone, but so many people loved his last book, Two Nights in Lisbon, so I knew that I wanted to give this author a try and I'm so happy that I did! The story mainly takes place at the Bohemia, one of New York City’s most exclusive buildings. Our protagonist is d......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on April 17, 2025

The Doorman is the most surprising book of the year so far. Imagine Succession with a few added blood-soaked scenes. Or Bonfire of the Vanities with Die Hard undertones. This streamlined and bitingly modern novel takes place around the historic Bohemia on Park Avenue in NYC. The building is a strati......more

Goodreads review by Rebecca on December 28, 2024

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of The Doorman by Chris Pavone in exchanged for my review. After reading Two Nights in Lisbon I was looking forward to reading more from Chris Pavone. Unfortunately, this book is an DNF for me. I got about a third of the way through and lost all interest. The book is bo......more

Goodreads review by Sherry on May 14, 2025

The Doorman by Chris Pavone is one of those books that lured me in with the blurb and the fact that Chris Pavone is a New York Times Bestselling author. For me, it was a frustrating book. Most of it consisted of telling me all about the rich and their life style. The mystery came at the end and felt......more

Goodreads review by Laura on April 13, 2025

I thought this book was very slow moving and spent quite a bit of time on background information. Basically, nothing exciting happens until about the last 10% of the book, and I found myself often impatient for the story to move more. However, I did was to read it to the end to find out what happene......more


Quotes

"This adrenaline-pumping thriller from bestseller Pavone delivers a lacerating, Tom Wolfe–worthy dissection of Manhattan society in the post-Covid era. . . Page-turning from the opening paragraph to its killer finale, the narrative combines noirish atmosphere with a sharp attunement to the particular depravities of ultrawealthy urbanites. Pavone’s provocative look at the city that never sleeps will keep readers up well into the wee hours."
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Chris Pavone has always been good, but this novel is way better than good. The kind of novel that wins book awards. Cynical, tender, sharp, dense, funny, and loaded with inside dope about how New York works (and how it doesn’t). The Doorman is a Bonfire of the Vanities for the 21st century. He gives it to both sides of the culture wars, and with both smoking barrels."
—Stephen King

"The Doorman is a near-perfect blend of clever plotting, wicked social commentary, irresistible setting, truly memorable characters, and old-fashioned, page-turning fun. What a romp!"
—John Grisham

"A tense, pulse-pounding thriller!"
—S. A. Cosby, author of King of Ashes

"Sensationally good, wise, wry, and perceptive—this era's great state-of-the-city novel, up there with the very best of Tom Wolfe and Jay McInerney."
—Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher novels

“Smart, twisty, and sharply written, The Doorman is hard to put down and harder to forget. A delight.”
Karin Slaughter, New York Times and #1 international bestselling author of This Is Why We Lied

“Like the New York City subway, Chris Pavone’s novel moves at breakneck speed, twisting and turning, jostling together those who might otherwise live worlds apart, intertwining their secrets, their private heartaches, and their fates as The Doorman hurtles to its shocking conclusion.”
–Jenny Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street

"Chris Pavone swings big with The Doorman, a wise, expansive, and extravagantly readable thriller that keeps us guessing until the last page. A searing and hilarious social satire, The Doorman unflinchingly takes on New York in this moment—class, race, social justice—with an eye as wicked as it is compassionate."
—Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette

"In this superb novel, Chris Pavone artfully blends the murk and glitter of Manhattan, both rich and poor, into one combustible tale of greed, lust, and crime. An irresistible read that captures, in personal terms, this terribly fraught moment in our nation's cultural politics."
—Ron Chernow, author of Alexander Hamilton