🎙 INTERVIEW: Writing the Modern Thriller: Class, Power, and Suspense with Chris Pavone
​** This is a LIVE interview with Chris Pavone about the craft of writing and reality of building a creative career.**
​What makes a thriller feel both intimate and explosive? How do you turn a single building into a lens on an entire city?
​Chris Pavone’s international bestsellers have long combined page-turning tension with psychological and social depth. A former publishing executive turned novelist, Pavone is the author of The Expats (winner of the Edgar and Anthony Awards), Two Nights in Lisbon, and most recently The Doorman, a New York Times Notable Book of 2025. His novels have appeared on major bestseller lists, been translated into more than two dozen languages, and are in development for film and television.
​In The Doorman, Pavone brings his sharpest lens yet to New York City. Set over the course of one combustible night at the Bohemia—an iconic Manhattan apartment building—the novel follows residents and staff as protests rage across the city and private tensions tip toward public catastrophe. It’s a thriller of secrets and survival, but also a vivid portrait of a city strained by inequality and resentment.
​Join us for a conversation with Chris Pavone about writing suspense that captures both the pulse of a plot and the pressures of a moment in history.
​We’ll also explore:
​How to construct a high-stakes narrative within a tightly compressed timeframe
​Writing morally complex characters across lines of class and privilege
​Building tension that feels inevitable rather than contrived
​What his decades inside publishing taught him about storytelling and structure
​The shift from editor to novelist—and what changes when you’re on the other side of the desk
​Sustaining a long-term career in commercial fiction without losing depth or ambition
​About Chris Pavone
​Chris Pavone is the New York Times bestselling author of The Doorman, The Paris Diversion, The Travelers, The Accident, and The Expats, winner of the Edgar and Anthony Awards for best first novel. He was a book editor for nearly two decades and lives in New York City with his family.
​Your London Writers' Salon Hosts:
​Parul Bavishi and Matt Trinetti are the co-founders of the London Writers' Salon, creators of the webby-nominated Writers' Hour daily writing sessions, and hosts of the London Writers' Salon podcast.
​Parul Bavishi has been an editor for over a decade. In addition to running LWS she helps thriller, YA and non-fiction writers level up their craft and get published. She writes and edits for the Story Grid. She has worked as an editor and literary scout at Random House, Quercus & Eccles Fisher. She analyses TV hit shows (Killing Eve, Ozark, Game of Thrones) on the Story Grid Showrunners Podcast.
​Matt Trinetti is a writer, publisher, TEDx speaker, and facilitator. In addition to running LWS, Matt designs programs to help unfulfilled professionals pursue creative work, start businesses, and reinvent their careers. Matt's work has appeared in Quartz, Observer, Creative Mornings, and on his blog GiveLiveExplore.
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