The Doorman
A Novel
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4.3 • 300 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Named one of the Best Thrillers and a Notable Book of 2025 by the New York Times
Instant New York Times Bestseller
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 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A working-class employee of the ultrarich does what he must to survive total upheaval in this powerhouse thriller. As the doorman at a chic New York City building for the past three decades, Chicky Diaz has had a front-row seat to the domestic trials and tribulations of its superrich residents. But when nearby anti-police protests threaten to turn violent, the rattled doorman brings a gun to work, but for a surprising reason: to make sure his charges, and their secrets, are safe. Thriller master Chris Pavone knows how to pace suspense, bringing the high-stakes drama of multiple storylines to a boil as hot-button social issues rise to the surface. As Chicky struggles to balance his own problems with the increasing demands of his high-maintenance charges, the powder keg plot ignites, drawing all the elements together for an explosive finale. The Doorman lets us see how a wildly exclusive world operates—and how it falls apart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
Excellent read
Very very good book! Could not put it down. I will be thinking about Chicky and wondering what he is up to for a long time.
Great characters great story
I’ve been reading this author for years. This is not his usual style. It took a while for the doorman to get going, but once it did, it was hard to put down. And as I read the last page, it was bittersweet to say goodbye to these characters. A very very satisfying read.
Too political
Pavone should save the left wing political commentary for another forum. Reading this book was painful because the political views of the author overshadowed the storyline