Deadly Pleasures to Read and Watch

Chris Pavone aimed high when he wrote The Doorman, a social satire with the engine of a thriller that examines the aftermath of the George Floyd movement on the diverse mix of humans who coexist uneasily in New York City. Whether or not Pavone intended it, the book can be seen as an update of Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities, from 1980s Wall Street to the age of Trumpism.

Befitting the 21st century, the central character is not a beleaguered Master of the Universe but a doorman named Chicky Diaz working at an exclusive Central Park West building called the Bohemia, a storied fortress not unlike the Dakota, the Beresford, or the San Remo.