Thanks to #NetGalley and #Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an advanced copy of The Doorman. I requested this book because the description sounded right up my alley. Turns out it was only about halfway up my alley.

Look, I’m all for setting the scene and providing background, but this one took a little too long to get into the meat of the story. I often find that to be the case when a book tries to be both literary fiction and a thriller. It’s possible, but very difficult, and to go back to the roadway metaphors, it’s normally best to just pick a lane.

The book really picked up for me about 1/4 of the way through and then it became a page-turner.

The story was good here but honestly all the character perspectives just felt off. Which starts to rub the reader the wrong way for sure. Interesting setting and plot. Predictable ending.

This was a really good read and I think it had a decent writing style and story! Would recommend to anyone looking for next read

I typically enjoy this author's books because they are just a little bit different from typical thrillers. They are interesting and well plotted and this book is no exception. That said, I struggled so much to make headway and put it down a number of times. The second part of the novel was great and I flew through the final third. I loved the descriptions of the characters and their complexity and personally liked the political commentary, though it was at times unnecessarily heavy handed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Great book, by a new found author, I will need to see his other book. I live in New York, and boy did his descriptions tell a great story. Chicky Diaz, who’s been a doorman for years and the upper class of people who lives in these apartments and their stories. And the store of the city itself. A lot of twists and turns. And the ins and outs of the families. I’m sure that this book will be on list for one of the best books in 2025.

This book was a lot! So many stereotypical and political view points made in the book, I just didn't love it.

The Bohemia is an exclusive and famous building in NYC. Chicky, the doorman, is going through a rough patch financially. Resident Emily has all of the money in the world, but her husband is the worst and a horrible human being contributing to the downfall of society. Julian also lives in the building, and his art dealing business has hit a snag. The lives of these people are intertwined and further enmeshed in one fatal night.

I won’t lie, this book is really slow. It takes forever to get to the action, which is in about the last 100 pages. It was a slog getting through the beginning, but I did enjoy the ending. I was fully intending to give this book 2 stars until it picked up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for a copy of this book.

I can see why The Doorman has generated so much attention. While marketed as a thriller, it leans much more towards a sharp examination of class, privilege, and racism in modern America. The story unfolds in a tense New York City, simmering with anger after the police killing of another unarmed POC citizen. Beneath the polished exterior of Manhattan, the novel delivers a biting social critique.

Chris Pavone does an excellent job portraying the complexities of the city and weaving in the cultural and political realities of the moment. The characters feel authentic, and the setting is vivid and alive.

At times, I felt a little worn down by reading fiction that so closely mirrors today’s political atmosphere, there’s already so much of that in the news. But in a way, it also became a form of escapism, since my frustration could shift from real-world figures to certain characters in the book. And that is not a bad thing, as there are definitely characters here to care about too.

The book combines elements of suspense and subtle humor with a deeper reflection on the pressing issues in society: inequality, racism, political extremism, and more.

That said, I was not completely satisfied. I had expected more of a focus on the actual role of the doorman, but the book takes a broader look at American life in early 2025. Pavone has written a fictionalized version of a reality Americans are already living, and it is not one I particularly enjoy revisiting.

This is not a fast-paced, plot-driven thriller. It is more suited to readers who enjoy deep character work and a slow-building mystery that really picks up towards the end.

The Bohemia is a world famous elegant building on The Upper West Side of NYC and Chucky Diaz is everyone's favorite doorman in the building. Things are heating up in the city. A black man has been killed uptown, and anger is at an all-time high. Protests threaten to become violent and Chicky as well as the other working class black and Hispanic employees of the building are on edge. In the meantime, the elite residents are also facing their demons. Emily Longworth is hiding secrets that can threaten her perfect looking world. Julian Sonnenberg who made a name for himself in NY's art world is facing turmoil in his business and personal life and Chicky - everyone's favorite doorman, is nervously waiting retribution for a favor he needed from an unsavory character. This was a page-turner, stay up late, cannot put down thriller. It was the first book I have read by Chris Pavone but certainly will not be the last. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher to giving me the opportunity to read this advance reader's copy. Loved it.

Thank you to the author, Farrar, Straus and Giroux | MCD and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My apologies for the delay in posting, I have had continuing familial health challenges to contend with in the past months.

This novel captures a cross-section of life in a large historic apartment building in New York, focusing on three main characters: a long-time doorman and two residents, an art gallery owner strapped for money, and the wife of an obnoxiously rich and noxious finance bro. Their lives intersect in normal and in unforeseen ways, against the backdrop of rising tensions in the city. We are in the period of the rise of BLM and the book takes place in the space of one day before a protests taking place in front of the building. There is a lot of backstory, character development and flashbacks, and that made this a bit long-winded, even if extremely well-written. The last third started moving more rapidly, and overall this was a fascinating read with depth and threw up many salient questions - but you do need to hang in there.

Set in a prestigious hotel in NYC, The Doorman is like watching a kaleidoscope of urban wealth, politics and power on steroids. A lot is packed in this suspenseful thriller and it is busy and brilliant. As the residents of the famous Bohemian Hotel unravel and the streets get mean, only the doorman stands between the two. Filled with secrets, action and incredibly developed characters, this is a perfect summer read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read The Doorman for my honest review and for introducing me to an author I will be reading again.

this had that element that I was looking for from a murder novel. It had that suspenseful atmosphere that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall concept of this. Chris Pavone has a strong writing style and was able to create characters that I was wanting and enjoyed from this. I'd love to read more from Chris Pavone as this was really well done.

Another fabulous read from this author. This is probably one of the slowest burns I have read recently. I kept thinking, wow, what a nice story, about a Doorman and the people he took care of. Welp, I was wrong. That Doorman and those people were a bunch of cons and stealthy planners.

Without giving anything away, never judge a building by its Doorman! They know everything and can do anything!

Can't wait for the next one from this author.

Once I realized that The Doorman is not a thriller primarily about a doorman but a panoramic social commentary about the upper and lower echelons of the upper west side of NYC I immersed myself in The Doorman. The Doorman drags when it dwells on the highly sexual relationship between 2 of its major players primarily because these 2 are very unlikable people..... But, the novel surges and pulsates when it deals with the doorman and NYC. Yes, I am conflicted , but, kept reading. The ending is thrilling although in my opinion not plausible. But, how many endings are plausible.

This was a slow burn. It was not like the author's previous books. The first 25% is a lot of supposition exploring all the characters. The editing seems choppy at times switching time periods. I enjoyed it the most when Emily was on screen. There was some foreshadowing that a part of me wishes maybe was not there. The story has a lot of commentary on current social issues. The end does have a surprising reveal. The suspense was well done in part 4 Tonight. I was on the edge of my seat rooting for Emily, Julian, and Chicky.

I had just started a book by a favorite author when I received this ARC so I switched gears. I apologize to myself for that error in judgement. I have only given up on one NetGalley book and that was because of a format error that couldn’t be fixed: the font was probably a negative six.

Here we are in The Bohemia the most exclusive condo building in NYC. Here we have the wealthiest and nastiest) of men structuring shady business deals with foreign governments, the US government. Anyone that will pay him and his estranged business partner (also fabulously wealthy) the bazillions of dollars they don’t deserve. Emily, oligarch number one’s wife, hates her husband, wants out and decides she needs to give back so she volunteers in a soup kitchen. While she isn’t having an affair with the unlikeliest of men. I mean seriously. And that dude is bogged down in his own designer luggage. Chicky Diaz is one of the doormen. His wife has just died, the medical bills for his wife’s care were astronomical, his two girls are in college and he has nothing. His credit cards are maxed out, he’s late on the rent and trying to avoid the loan sharks. Chicky and the other doormen are privy to the intimate details of The Bohemia’s residents most intimate “secrets”. Chicky was a jewel.

There were too many characters and too much detail about these characters crowding the first 80 percent of the book. Time stood still as I slogged on. Emily’s woes were repeated so often I wanted to slap her. Pavone wrote a book about what America is like in early 2025, but fictionalized it. Why? Americans are living it. The right complaining about the left. Heavily. The last twenty percent of the book flies by and was a delight to read.

This was my first Pavone book. His previous novels were so well received. This is a clunker.

Ok wow I really didn't expect my rating to be four stars when I was in the middle of this book but the last 20% of the book was INCREDIBLE and is going to have me recommending it. The book takes place in the course of a day before a BLM protest taking place in front of the apartment building with a quick set up and then lots of characterization (which I actually liked because you never know what’s going to be revealed in the flashback and what revelations will be important) but this went on WAY too long in my opinion. Characters are based simultaneously on stereotypes and nuance which makes them more believable.

I did go into this thinking it was a mystery thriller, but 25% in and it’s just day in the life/character building what I think is leading to a bigger moment or twist…But it’s reading more like literary fiction though not quite and I’m starting to get bored with the anecdotes and nothing really happening

Ok around the 2/3 mark - this book is starting to get interesting! I think it’s just hard for my attention to be grabbed when most of the plot is happening in the past through flashbacks because it gives background instead of moving the story forward. And then it just started to get too complainey/preachy about privilege. At first I was like hell yeah and by the halfway mark I was just exhausted. I want a thriller! A twist! Instead it’s a lesson about the haves and have nots with a twist at the end.

“If everyone you know has achieved the same success, is that really success? Has it really been achieved?”

Centers on the elite NY Bohemia apartment building, and the most well liked of its doormen, Chicky Diaz. Readers also meet many of the tenants in the complex, who have their own parts to play.

Events steadily escalate into an explosion of violence in the Bohemia, and the carefully orchestrated aftermath. As Chicky, the definition of a doorman, muses at the end 'you are who you are, until you're not.' Don't miss this one!

A sharp, timely thriller that doesn’t shy away from the messiness of class, race, and power in modern-day New York. The Doorman weaves together high-rise privilege and street-level unrest in a way that feels both tense and deeply human. Chicky is more than just a doorman—he’s a lens into the simmering social divides beneath the Bohemia’s glossy surface. Pavone explores systemic inequality, police violence, and who gets to feel safe—and why—all while keeping the pages flying. Gritty, provocative, and unputdownable.

Thank you Chris Pavone, Farrar Straus and Giroux, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

#thedoorman #netgalleyarc #netgalleyreview #netgalley #arcreview #arc #arcreader #review #somanybookssolittletime

Everyone and then I pick an ARC based on how much I enjoyed their last book. That was the case here (Two Nights in Lisbon). Sadly for me, The Doorman was not a match. DNF at 25%.