There were several reasons The Churchgoer didn't really grab me. First of all, I didn't feel a connection with the main character, not finding him likable at all. Then I thought the book could have been shortened appreciably, and finally, because I had trouble buying into the general premise of the story.
The main character, a former pastor named Mark Haines, gradually lost his faith, left his church, and turned against religion. His marriage had failed, he is a recovering addict, and barely holds onto a job as a security guard. His grown daughter has turned against him, and been completely out of his life for years. His daughter won't so much as talk to him, let him see his grandson, nor even share her son's name with him. Perhaps because all these things are going wrong in his life, Haines seems to loose patience with people far too easily, which makes him more unlikable to me.

I also thought the story would have moved along much better if it was shortened appreciably. Before any action Haines would take or any choice he would make, his every thought, consideration and recollection seemed to be needlessly described, adding to the length of the book without adding interest.

And lastly, I thought much of the story itself seemed improbable. Haines has a chance encounter with a teenage girl (Emily) who was planning on hitchhiking from Southern California to Seattle. After this very short meeting with the girl, Mark developed an unusual and unfathomable interest in her. He knew nothing about the girl, including her name or where she lived, yet somehow develops an obsessive interest in finding her again after this single brief encounter.
After another subsequent chance encounter with her, he learns that she just moved out of her "bad" boyfriend's house, and has no place to stay. He allows her to stay at his house, but within a few days, she leaves without a word. Now he's really obsessed with finding her again, supposedly to "make sure she's all right". In the course of trying to find her, he roughs up a young man who he believes might know something of her whereabouts, but doesn't learn much. Then, by chance, Haines runs into a still-active minister from his old church, another guy that Mark doesn't like. But it happens that this former acquaintance of his just happened to know something about another former church member, named Sammy, who previously worked with Mark when he was still a church minister. As it ends up, Sammy just happens to be the name of the "bad" ex-boyfriend of Emily, the girl Mark is searching for. Haines suspects that the this Sammy must be the same Sammy that was Emily's old boyfriend. Haines finds out where Sammy lives, only to find that he's into drugs and porn. Police just happen to raid Sammy's house while Haines is visiting, and he gets himself arrested during the raid. After Mark is released by the police without being charged, he still can't find the girl. But Haines guesses that he knows where Emily may have been a church member before she became a runaway. Still not knowing for sure who he's asking about, Haines visits the girl's old church, pretending to be a police officer. He learns a little more about a runaway girl matching Emily's description, and he then breaks into that church minister's house to get even more information. It ends up that Emily and the minister's daughter were in a lesbian relationship, ending when the minister found out. Haines then he breaks into the minister's house, and roughs him up because Haines feels the minister should have helped the girl more. All too far fetched to me, and didn't really keep me interested. ( )

This turned out to be an unexpected pleasure for me. I rarely read books that discuss characters who are struggling with their Christian belief, and I'm not really sure why I requested it, but it was wonderful.

When youth pastor Mark Haines' sister killed herself to settle the existence of God for herself, Mark had a breakdown and turned to alcohol, eventually living on the street. That was 15 years ago. Now he's sober, lives in a small house in a California beach town, works as a watchman, and spends his free time surfing. He and his ex are in touch in a friendly brother-and-sister way, but his daughter, who witnessed his own suicide attempt as a young child, now has a child of her own and wants nothing to do with him. One day he allows himself to be conned out of a free breakfast by a young woman who then asks if she can stay at his place for a night or two. Neither trusts the other, but they make it through and then she disappears, reappearing a year later among the beach crowd before disappearing again. Mark becomes obsessed with finding her and making sure she's OK, seeing her safety as one way to bring himself a little redemption. What he stumbles into brings back all the memories of his sister, his pastoral years, and, inevitably, his own struggle with belief. As he follows clues through the drug trade and through the megachurch community, he begins to make sense of his own history and his own role in a megachurch-in-the-making.

Mark's voice rings very true, and he does not back down from examining the most difficult questions about his past. There is quite a bit of suspense in the plot, but the focus is on Mark's inner life. Highly recommended.

(Made available through Netgalley.) ( )

What a strange book! Mark Haines is an ex pastor. He has had it with God, religion, and the church. He was once a family man, someone everyone looked up to. Then he abandons his family, his life and becomes a surfer who works security at night. He then meets Cindy , a young girl hitchhiking. They talk, she disappears, a murder is committed and Mark becomes a suspect. Sounds confusing? Yes it is. And complicated. There is a lot of religion in this story along with evil and self hatred. Not exactly an uplifting story. I won this book from Librarything. ( )

I received a copy of The Churchgoer through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

As a fan of the hard-boiled detective fiction of the 40's and it's modern counterparts, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Coleman fully developed his flawed character and was skilled at playing the mystery out. As a volunteer with my church's high school youth group, the protagonist's involvement with his church group was very interesting to me. His femme fatale was believable and compelling and his cast of characters filled the book nicely.

I definitely recommend this book to fans of mysteries and detective fiction. Enjoy! ( )

Various blurbs probably generated by the publisher really piqued my interest in this novel; I was intrigued by the premise of the briefly suggested plot. To say the least, however, I was disappointed. The story centers on Mark Haines ex-pastor turned to a simple life of surfer and security guard. Unfortunately, Haines like all the characters in this book is not developed; they are flat, and I found myself unable to connect in any way even minutely with any of them. I agree with another reviewer who questioned Haines' voice/persona: the author sort of confuses and turns readers away from Haines given his uncalled for shifts in voice/persona. If anything, the confusion generated by the shifts make Haines a questionable character. It also seems as though the author is throwing a smorgasbord of potential devices from drugs to sex to money to murder as gimmicks to not only challenge Haines but to also engage a wider readership. Instead the excessive load of devices feeds a questionable plot with weakly developed hardly believable conflicts. In all honesty, I had to push myself to continue reading to reach the conclusion of the text. I guess I just expect more from my reading time. ( )