“Coleman’s book reads like a tribute to California noir, but there’s nothing worn or derivative about it. The Churchgoer is a wonderful debut novel from a writer with more than a few tricks up his sleeve.” - Los Angeles Times
“The story of a very mortal and bemused former pastor turned private detective, The Churchgoer faithfully partakes of a California noir that will win over fans of the genre and make quite a few converts, too. It is, above all, the arrival on the scene of an excellent new talent in Patrick Coleman.” - Joshua Ferris, author of Then We Came to the End and The Dinner Party
“Nothing is sacred in Patrick Coleman’s utterly original debut -- not religion, not faith, not love, not family -- all of it can be lost at a moment’s notice. The one thing left standing in Coleman’s sun-bleached noir is hope, even for a cast of characters who are never quite what they seem. (And if hope fails, a little violence might do the trick.) This is pulp-fiction of a higher order, and maybe of a higher calling, the world of God and man clashing in a California beach town as unglamorous as the people who live in it, like if Kem Nunn found religion and then lost it, just as quick.” - New York Times bestselling Tod Goldberg, author of Gansterland and the Burn Notice series
“readers will be curious to see what the author does next.” - Publishers Weekly
With a palpable nod to Raymond Chandler, this forceful mystery is an exploration of religion, responsibility, and the inverted forces at play in the modern world. - Crime Reads most anticipated summer reads