The Doorman

A Novel

By: Chris Pavone

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

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.

©2025 Chris Pavone (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"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

So entertaining!

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

Original story

Original story, very well narrated. Characters were well developed. A bit sanctimonious but definitely entertaining and engaging.

An exceptional book

An epic NYC story in Tom Wolfe’s league. The presentation is perfectly serves the story.

Gripping tale fantastically performed

A kind of modern-day Bonfire of the Vanities, this story kept me engrossed from start to finish with a brilliant narrative performance by Edoardo Ballerini.

good story

Great reader. Needed an escape..and it did its job. Loved listening..a bit like 21st c Bonfires of the Vanities

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.

Slow go

I really liked Two Days in Lisbon. To me this fell flat. Sometimes it got painfully slow and wondering around all over the place

A bad soap opera

Ballerini always does great work, but I had to give up on this one.
I kept wondering - “when will this story get interesting? “. It just continued to drag on and on and on. I listened for eight hours and finally had had enough.

disappointing

Sigh. I was looking forward to this novel SO MUCH. Loved Two Nights in Lisbon, couldn't wait for Chris Pavone's next book. This was not the action/thriller book I was expecting. Instead, it's a lot--I mean a LOT-- of social justice commentary and very little action. There might have been a good book in there if CP's editor had the guts to tell him to dump the first 75% of the book and start over with the last 25% as the beginning. Edoardo Ballerini, however: perfection.