Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audio book.

I"ve enjoyed the fast paced, complex stories of Pavone's previous, so I was excited to read THE DOORMAN, a braided series of stories about residents of The Bohemia, including the eponymous doorman. THE DOORMAN was too much of a departure for me to enjoy it; at first the idea of a thriller centered on a tony New York City building, but the static setting ended up keeping the narrative from having the same propulsiveness that Pavone's previous books have had. This time out is a miss for me, but I'll look forward to the next thing this writer publishes

Most of Chris Pavone’s thrillers have taken place abroad and I loved “Two Nights in Lisbon.” I think the author should have kept closer to action packed suspense plots and international locations. “The Doorman,” set in New York City, is a very serious, slow moving, sad version of “Only Murders in the Building,” more a political or class satire with a lot of reflection on the state of modern day racism and wealth inequality. From the title, you’d assume the book should be starring Chicky Diaz, the Hispanic doorman of a Dakota-like upper West Side co-op (the “Bohemia”) who in the prologue is armed for the first time and worried about spillover from possible protests after a Black man was unjustly killed (with no guarantee that the civil disturbance will become a ransacking riot).

But we’re also delving into the lives of tenants like penthouse dweller/unhappy housewife of a billionaire villain Emily and lower level resident/co-op board member Julian. We endure multiple vignettes about the characters’ pasts and their current situations. There is literally no action until Chapter 9 when the board argues about hiring extra armed security in anticipation of the street protests and whether they should allow a Black athlete willing to pay 10% above the asking price to buy an apartment there. Continuous banter occurs about secrets and who’s hiding what, but it’s mostly so frustratingly vague.

Pavone commits what I consider a mortal error: no character is likable enough to care about in order to keep reading. Chicky, Emily, and Julian are all lost souls, each angry with some part of their worlds, but I just couldn’t work up much sympathy even knowing that these are the three people I should be invested in.

Thank goodness for Edoardo Ballerini, a narrator extraordinaire. I was fortunate enough to have access to both the ebook and audiobook, and if not for the well-known narrator, I might have DNFed “The Doorman” at the one third point. Ballerini’s excellent narration kept me going to — at last — the final part of the book titled “Tonight” at the 80% mark. This is where a plot finally appears and there’s enough action worth staying until the end. Overall, in comparison to his previous works, Pavone’s story disappointed me and only rates 3 stars, but Ballerini’s performance is a 5 that rescues “The Doorman.” I recommend the audiobook version if you decide to select this and be prepared to skip ahead. The final chapters are twisty and well-plotted, but it’ll take patience to get there.

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Hailey’s bright blue eyes are the only eye colors mentioned.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO There is an acknowledgement about the stand of American elm trees in Central Park that is being defended by arborists against Dutch Elm disease.

Thank you to Farrah, Straus, Giroux and NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for advanced reader copies.

It disappoints me to say this because I’ve loved every book Chris Pavone has written up to this point, but this one, while of course well written, is essentially the literary equivalent of doomscrolling.

I know some people cope with what’s wrong in the real world by leaning into its fictional equivalent (hence climate horror, most dystopias, and so forth), but as someone who reads for either edification or entertainment, this book proved to be a very tough hang.

I thought the central plot was a good one, and the bones of the story had a lot of potential, but I’ll echo other reviewers in saying that I think this got incredibly bogged down by class politics and a veritable kitchen sink of hot button issues, which is both exhausting to read and also difficult to recon with even if you want to do the work because it’s trying to address seemingly everything wrong with today’s America all at once.

Pavone’s sharp wit helps make this at least palatable, and he is, of course, largely correct about the horrors facing the country at the moment. But the book is neither an enjoyable place to spend time nor an edifying piece of political commentary. Mostly, reading this is like scrolling a version of Twitter that is exactly the same as the real deal but without all the spelling errors.