The Churchgoer: A Novel
Written by Patrick Coleman
Narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla
4/5
()
About this audiobook
A haunting debut literary noir about a former pastor’s search to find a missing woman in the toxic, contradictory underbelly of southern California.
“He was finished with church, with God, with all of it. But to find the girl, he has to go back.”
In Mark Haines’s former life, he was an evangelical youth pastor, a role model, and a family man—until he abandoned his wife, his daughter, and his beliefs. Now he’s marking time between sunny days surfing and dark nights working security at an industrial complex. His isolation is broken when Cindy, a charming twenty-two-year old drifter he sees hitchhiking on the Pacific Coast Highway, hustles him for a breakfast and a place to crash—two cynical kindred spirits.
Then his co-worker is murdered in a robbery gone wrong and Cindy disappears on the same night. Haines knows he should let it go and return to his safe life of solitude. Instead, he’s driven to find out where Cindy went, under stranger and stranger circumstances. Soon Mark is chasing leads, each one taking him back into a world where his old life came crashing down—into the seedier side of southern California’s drug trade and ultimately into the secrets of an Evangelical megachurch where his past and his future are about to converge. What begins as an investigation becomes a haunting mystery and a psychological journey both for Mark, and for the elusive young stranger he won’t let get away.
Set in the early 2000s, The Churchgoer is a gripping noir, a quiet subversion of the genre, and a powerful meditation on belief, morality, and the nature of evil in contemporary life.
Patrick Coleman
Patrick Coleman's writing has appeared in Hobart, ZYZZYVA, Zócalo Public Square, the Black Warrior Review, and the Utne Reader, among others. His debut poetry collection, Fire Season (forthcoming from Tupelo Press) won the 2015 Berkshire Prize. Coleman also edited and contributed to The Art of Music, an exhibition catalogue on the relationship between visual arts and music (Yale University Press with the San Diego Museum of Art, October 27, 2015). He earned an MFA from Indiana University and a BA from the University of California Irvine. He lives in Ramona, California and works at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UC San Diego.
Related to The Churchgoer
Related audiobooks
The Deal Goes Down Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blood Highway: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Good Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Name Is Nathan Lucius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sunset City Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Like Flies from Afar: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNine Shiny Objects: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Safe: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5White Tiger on Snow Mountain: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Savage Lane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Animals: A Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tough Guys Don't Dance: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Rules of Wolfe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dirty Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Dies with You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Sister Death Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Killing Moon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dead Girl Blues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfect Crime Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Cripple Creek Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Visitation Street Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Free: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Summer of 66 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Country Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5CRUSH: Writers Reflect on Love, Longing and the Lasting Power of Their First Celebrity Crush Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Mercies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Already Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUSA Noir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not Comin' Home to You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Controlled Burn: Stories of Prison, Crime, and Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Noir For You
In Cold Blood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Decagon House Murders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After the Lights Go Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfect Affair: An absolutely gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Money Devils 1: A Cartel Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Serial Killer’s Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Forget: A Victor Lessard Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Annihilation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Guilty Husband Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Video Palace: In Search of the Eyeless Man: Collected Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Noir: Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction by African-American Writers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Serial Killer’s Wife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Without Blood: A Victor Lessard Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Choir: A Victor Lessard Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Like Lions: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Certain Dark Things: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rum Diary: The Long Lost Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Painted Gun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Blasphemer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joyland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razzmatazz: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ozark Dogs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gangsters Don't Die Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5X: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pack: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Temper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Waters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Article 353 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trap Line Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored: An Inspector Sebag Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Churchgoer
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Too many words. Too much endless introspection. Wish washy.