A school meeting becomes an explosive flashpoint in the culture wars, in a provocative bonus scene from The Doorman by the New York Times bestselling author of Two Nights in Lisbon and The Expats.
Emily has eagerly attended the DEI workshops and the roundtable on institutional racism; she led the task force on decolonializing the curriculum; she has never in her life cast a vote for a Republican. She is a die-hard liberal. But her billionaire husband is definitely not, and he's increasingly incensed about what he calls the Great Awokening at the exclusive, expensive private school their kids attend.
Today's PA meeting has been convened by an educator nicknamed QR Code to present a long list of language that should no longer be used in the "learning community." As the meeting unfolds, it resolves into focus as an explosive, divisive flashpoint: What happens when liberals become illiberal?
"The Parents' Association" is a thought-provoking adaptation from the forthcoming novel that Stephen King describes as "a Bonfire of the Vanities for the twenty-first century. [Pavone] gives it to both sides of the culture wars, and with both smoking barrels."
PRAISE FOR THE DOORMAN
"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 twenty-first 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
"Chris Pavone swings big with The Doorman, a wise, expansive, and extravagantly readable thriller that keeps us guessing until the last page. In this searing and hilarious social satire, Pavone unflinchingly takes on New York in this moment¿class, race, social justice¿with an eye as wicked as it is compassionate."
¿Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette
"Like the New York City subway, Chris Pavone's novel moves at breakneck speed, twisting and turning, jostling together those who might otherwise live worlds apart, intertwining their secrets, their private heartaches, and their fates as The Doorman hurtles to its shocking conclusion."
¿Jenny Jackson, author of Pineapple Street
"A tense, pulse-pounding thriller!"
¿S. A. Cosby, author of King of Ashes
"Sensationally good, wise, wry, and perceptive¿this era's great state-of-the-city novel, up there with the very best of Tom Wolfe and Jay McInerney."
¿Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels
"Smart, twisty, and sharply written, The Doorman is hard to put down and harder to forget. A delight."
¿Karin Slaughter, author of This Is Why We Lied
"The Doorman pits the privileged gentry of Manhattan against the serfs they fear will rise up and breach the defenses of their high-rise luxury co-ops. Chris Pavone's depiction of present-day New York City is a timely callback to The Bonfire of the Vanities, but his telling is too real to be satirical."
¿Griffin Dunne, author of The Friday Afternoon Club
