The Doorman

A Novel

De: Chris Pavone

Narrado por: Edoardo Ballerini

"The many characters, who come from a variety of socioeconomic, racial and ethnic scales, are all captured convincingly by narrator Edoardo Ballerini."—The Washington Post

"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

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.

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).

“Edoardo Ballerini’s masterful performance highlights growing tension in Chris Pavone’s The Doorman, a tense portrait of New York City’s social and economic divisions.”–BookPage

A Macmillan Audio production from MCD Books.

©2025 Chris Pavone (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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 bit long and formulaic for my taste

Tedious detail. Stereotypical characters. I thought it would never get to an interesting point. I only halfway listened and sped through the final part where the action finally occurred. Perhaps I didn’t do it justice.

Good story, great narrator

Didn’t grab me like his earlier books, but still good. Interesting insights into the world of the Uber-wealthy.

A real drama

Just terrific. It touched on so many things: moneyed people, their servants, race relations, love and hate.

Fun!

Ballerini, as always, hits it out of the park with his reading of this fun and funny (and spot on) romp of a book. I listened to it in 2 days and enjoyed every moment.

Great read. Couldn’t put it down. Excellent performance.

Loved this book and the upstairs downstairs view of a very fancy NYC apartment building.

A bit hard to follow

I found the character's hard to follow and it was an over-explanation of situational descriptions.

The New York of us all

Loved Chicky & Julian and all the other layered storylines! It’s been an awhile since I’ve been so taken in by a listen.
Ballerini does the work justice!

Great characters

Really well written and reader was perfect for all of the characters. Suspenseful. Kept my attention throughout

NYC Doormen have a life

First time autor for me. The author grew up in Brooklyn, attended Cornell University and after a short stint in Luxembourg his family and he returned to NYC so he has lived most of his life there. And that's what comes across in this story.

The author has a fun, witty writing style.

A good part of this story is explaining how life works in NYC, mostly Manhattan. You have the rich, the ultra-rich, on the other end the poor then lots of people in between. It seems the cardinal sin of those with money is to not run out of it. There seem to be lots of people that have to put on a show that they have more money than they do.

You see NYC through the eyes of the doorman. He's had his own tough times, and he has catered to the rich in his building for many years. His wife has died, his daughters grown up and out of the house, he owes money, and he's lonely. Into this scenario comes a tale where the rich in the building intersect with the poorer, maybe just the greedier side of life and the doorman is caught in the middle.

More than the thriller I enjoyed the explanation of how NYC works in all its elements.

So entertaining!

Excellent narration and a fun book! I truly enjoyed finishing it all in
The same day!