Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction! Finalist for the Publishing Triangle Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction! Recalling both the excess of The Wolf of Wall Street , and the drifting narrator of A Single Man , Ioannis Pappos’s debut novel is a portrait of privilege, aspiration, and international finance during the wayward course of the American economy between 9/11 and the 2008 Financial collapse, and is filled with surprisingly tender observations about identity, loneliness, and human connection. “I’m homeless, but in First Class.” Stathis Rakis abandoned his small Greek village for a more worldly life, first in San Francisco, where the Dot Com Bubble had already burst, and then in Paris, France, where he is pursuing an MBA at an elite business school. After falling helplessly in love with a liberal New England journalist with a good conscience, who comes to campus with some scores to settle, Stathis moves to the United States to begin as a consultant for a company called Command. He spends the very few hours of the day that aren’t consumed by work draining the minibar, battling insomnia, and binging on more than room service. Luxury is a given, happiness is not. As the economy recovers and a new bubble expands in a post-9/11 world, Stathis drifts upward, baring witness to the criminal decadence that will become the 2008 financial crisis, as well as his new habits of indulgence—drugs, sex, and insider trading. In a world of insiders--from corporate suits to Hollywood celebutantes—Stathis remains the outsider: too foreign to be one of them, too cynical to turn back. “Pappos delivers a fast-moving narrative set in the new model world of the international business culture, junior division…. The sexual and social mores of a wired world…are well and truly captured through sharp conversations and vivid vignettes.” - Anthony Haden-Guest, author ofThe Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and The Culture of the Night “One of the most exciting coming-of-age books I have read since Bright Lights, Big City .” - Melissa McConnell, author of Evidence of Love “Like a cross between The Wolf of Wall Street and Edith Wharton, Ioannis Pappos gets all the details right in this insider’s look at love and money in New York City in the post-millennial age. Pappos is such a good writer, it’s hard to believe he led a previous life in the trenches of Wall Street, but it is that combination that gives this moving story both its punch and density.” - Ira Sachs, writer and director of The Delta, Keep The Lights On, and Love Is Strange “As he romps through the highs and lows of the global economy, Ioannis Pappos will make you laugh even as he lays bare the very real human costs of our recent―and current―economic troubles. Hilarious and heartbreaking, Hotel Living captures perfectly our own interesting times.” - Scott Lasser, author of All I Could Get “We’ve read and watched depictions of the reckless excess of our recent gilded age, but rarely do we get a glimpse into the inner life of one of its players. Hotel Living is The Wolf of Wall Street with a heart.” - Mike Albo, author of The Junket “Thrilling storytelling with universal appeal.” - Entertainment Weekly “Sex, drugs and insider trading abound in Ioannis Pappos’ tale of one immigrant’s rise in the world of corporate finance. The lifestyles described tow the line between fascinating and sickening, allowing you to determine how harshly the characters deserve to be judged.” - Paste Magazine “Pappos keeps the story moving at a great pace that nails the feeling of confusion when one chases a love that is often unrequited.” - Lambda Literary Review “If Trollope were alive today, and he wanted to write The Way We Live Now about New York’s élite consultants, he would have written Hotel Living . Really a terrific book.” - Edmund White “Pappos is a first-rate storyteller and keen observer of our current moment. The prose here shimmers and the narration drives hard like the hard living lives in these pages. It’s a smart book that also happens to be entertaining…. I can’t wait for his next book.” - Anthony Swofford, New York Times bestselling author of Jarhead “You can’t for the life of you put the book down.” - Jason Diamond, Vol. 1 Brooklyn “ Hotel Living is nothing short of a masterpiece. It moved me and will continue to do so in more ways than I could imagine possible for a story told with such disarming clarity.” - Pappas Post “This quick read rivals The Wolf of Wall Street in its provocative tale of excess―luxe hotels, insider trading, physical altercations and casual sex abound.” - Frontier, “10 Beach Reads” “At once a cool-eyed satire and an unexpectedly heartfelt meditation on the meaning of home.” - Condé Nast Traveler “This is a look at privilege, hopes, desires and finance unlike anything we have seen before.… The writing is gorgeous, the plot is fascinating and the characters are very real.” - Reviews by Amos Lassen “W