The Doorman: A Novel

by Chris Pavone

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The Doorman explores humanity's elite at their lowest under the careful watch of one man. Witty, sharp and twisty, this is perfect for fans of Only Murders in the Building.

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.

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 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374604790
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	05/20/2025
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	106,509
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

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.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/03/2025

This adrenaline-pumping thriller from bestseller Pavone (Two Nights in Lisbon) delivers a lacerating, Tom Wolfe–worthy dissection of Manhattan society in the post-Covid era. The primary setting is the Bohemia, a storied Central Park West co-op where protagonist Chicky Diaz stands watch. A streetwise former Marine who moonlights as a security guard to pay off his late wife’s crushing medical debt, Chicky has seen and done a lot—but nothing approaching the perfect storm of catastrophes that converge during the fraught hours over which the narrative unfolds. The intersecting story lines—which culminate in an armed robbery at the Bohemia—involve some of the building’s highest-profile names. Chief among them are gorgeous former gallerist Emily Longworth and her billionaire husband, Whit, who was recently outed as an arms dealer but is privately known to Chicky as a man with a propensity for hiring call girls who look like his wife. 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. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Co. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"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

From the Publisher