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Gun Church
Once a literary wunderkind, author Kip Weiler now teaches creative writing at Brixton County Community College—a third-rate school in a rural mining town. But when he saves his class from a potential bloodbath, he is initiated by two of his students into a cult-like group that worships the essential nature of handguns, and rekindles his long-absent creative spark.
But as Weiler's involvement with the cult deepens and the end of his novel is in sight, the lines between art and life blur until they become unrecognizable. In this church, there's no need for red wine or wafers. In Gun Church, the blood and bodies are for real.
But as Weiler's involvement with the cult deepens and the end of his novel is in sight, the lines between art and life blur until they become unrecognizable. In this church, there's no need for red wine or wafers. In Gun Church, the blood and bodies are for real.
396 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 2011
42 people are currently reading
189 people want to read
About the author
Reed Farrel Coleman
166 books744 followersaka Tony Spinosa
Reed Farrel Coleman’s love of storytelling originated on the streets of Brooklyn and was nurtured by his teachers, friends, and family.
A New York Times bestseller called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the “noir poet laureate” in the Huffington Post, Reed is the author of novels, including Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone series, the acclaimed Moe Prager series, short stories, and poetry.
Reed is a three-time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories—Best Novel, Best Paperback Original, Best Short Story—and a three-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year. He has also won the Audie, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards.
A former executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America, Reed is an adjunct instructor of English at Hofstra University and a founding member of MWA University. Brooklyn born and raised, he now lives with his family–including cats Cleo and Knish–in Suffolk County on Long Island.
Reed Farrel Coleman’s love of storytelling originated on the streets of Brooklyn and was nurtured by his teachers, friends, and family.
A New York Times bestseller called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the “noir poet laureate” in the Huffington Post, Reed is the author of novels, including Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone series, the acclaimed Moe Prager series, short stories, and poetry.
Reed is a three-time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories—Best Novel, Best Paperback Original, Best Short Story—and a three-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year. He has also won the Audie, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards.
A former executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America, Reed is an adjunct instructor of English at Hofstra University and a founding member of MWA University. Brooklyn born and raised, he now lives with his family–including cats Cleo and Knish–in Suffolk County on Long Island.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
August 18, 2020
Kip ‘Kipster’ Weiler was once the bright young writer, a man much loved for his edgy stories. A few books in and his name was being whispered by the New York in-crowd, people who had revered the likes of Kerouac and Ginsberg. But then his talent just upped and walked out the door, passing a strong and prolonged drug habit which was on the way in. Now, years later and full of resentment and self pity, he’s eking out a meagre living teaching creative writing to a group of largely average students at a community college in British Columbia. Nothing much happens in this town and even the brightest of his students confess to having no hope of ever achieving anything in life.
But then one day one of his students produces a gun as Kip is handing back marked assignments. It quickly turns into a hostage situation with the whole class being held captive in the classroom. How this stalemate is broken is to profoundly impact and shape Kip’s future. In the immediate aftermath he becomes close to two of his students: Jim, a great fan of Kip’s writing and to whom he becomes a mentor and Renée a beautiful girl he becomes romantically involved with.
Jim introduces Kip to a secret club where all of the members are obsessed with the intrinsic nature of handguns. The club meetings are strangely formal and involve use of the guns in a way that at first scares Kip but in time excites him to the point that it even kick-starts his appetite to write again. At some point in the past, researching a story in Northern Ireland centred the violence of sectarianism, he’d come in to the possession of a journal kept by a nationalist killer named Terry McGuinn. Terry wanted his own story told and Kip now thinks he sees a way to combine the Irishman’s story with some of his new experiences with the gun club. Its an idea that’s really got his blood pumping.
This is a deep and sometimes disturbing tale of violence, obsession and love. Written by an author primarily known for his excellent hard boiled crime fiction, to me this book reads much more like a piece of literary fiction. A really good piece of literary fiction. There are mysteries and twists here but for me its real beauty lies in the way Coleman lets us creep inside the head of his lead man as he battles with his desire for Renée versus his regrets over the split of his marriage years ago when his life imploded and how the excitement of seemingly re-finding a degree of talent and desire to write battles with his need to perpetually put himself at risk in ever more demanding and risky escapades. It’s an amazing piece, possibly the author’s best, and my only regret is that it’s taken me so long to catch up with it.
But then one day one of his students produces a gun as Kip is handing back marked assignments. It quickly turns into a hostage situation with the whole class being held captive in the classroom. How this stalemate is broken is to profoundly impact and shape Kip’s future. In the immediate aftermath he becomes close to two of his students: Jim, a great fan of Kip’s writing and to whom he becomes a mentor and Renée a beautiful girl he becomes romantically involved with.
Jim introduces Kip to a secret club where all of the members are obsessed with the intrinsic nature of handguns. The club meetings are strangely formal and involve use of the guns in a way that at first scares Kip but in time excites him to the point that it even kick-starts his appetite to write again. At some point in the past, researching a story in Northern Ireland centred the violence of sectarianism, he’d come in to the possession of a journal kept by a nationalist killer named Terry McGuinn. Terry wanted his own story told and Kip now thinks he sees a way to combine the Irishman’s story with some of his new experiences with the gun club. Its an idea that’s really got his blood pumping.
This is a deep and sometimes disturbing tale of violence, obsession and love. Written by an author primarily known for his excellent hard boiled crime fiction, to me this book reads much more like a piece of literary fiction. A really good piece of literary fiction. There are mysteries and twists here but for me its real beauty lies in the way Coleman lets us creep inside the head of his lead man as he battles with his desire for Renée versus his regrets over the split of his marriage years ago when his life imploded and how the excitement of seemingly re-finding a degree of talent and desire to write battles with his need to perpetually put himself at risk in ever more demanding and risky escapades. It’s an amazing piece, possibly the author’s best, and my only regret is that it’s taken me so long to catch up with it.
November 18, 2012
Fame and fortune came much too early and much too quickly to Kip Weiler who became a star of the 1980s New York literary scene while still in his early twenties. He quickly became "the Kipster," running through money, dope and women as if there were no tomorrow.
Unhappily for Kip, there was. And having squandered his talent and his young life, he's spiraled down to rock bottom, teaching English at a tiny rural community college to dead-end students whose futures are even darker than his. But then one afternoon, as Kip is returning the first assignments of the semester, a disgruntled student takes him and the class hostage. Acting purely on instinct, Kip saves the day and earns another fifteen minutes of fame. He also earns the attention of Renee Svoboda, a stunningly beautiful coed, and of another student, Jim Trimble, who has long been an unabashed fan of Weiler's work.
Before long, Kip is sexually involved with the lovely Renee and she and Trimble together introduce him into a group of gun aficionados that had turned into a semi-religious cult. For the people caught in the dead-end existence of this small rural community, the Gun Church provides the only excitement and escape that they are likely to find.
Kip is quickly caught up and finds that these new relationships have reinvigorated his literary imagination. He starts writing again and is suddenly producing the best work of his life. But then things take a very unexpected turn and suddenly that life is in serious jeopardy.
This is a gripping, well-written novel with a lot of discussion about the writing life and the business of writing, and it should appeal to a wide audience. Readers who like crime fiction and those looking for insights into the writing life should certainly enjoy it.
Unhappily for Kip, there was. And having squandered his talent and his young life, he's spiraled down to rock bottom, teaching English at a tiny rural community college to dead-end students whose futures are even darker than his. But then one afternoon, as Kip is returning the first assignments of the semester, a disgruntled student takes him and the class hostage. Acting purely on instinct, Kip saves the day and earns another fifteen minutes of fame. He also earns the attention of Renee Svoboda, a stunningly beautiful coed, and of another student, Jim Trimble, who has long been an unabashed fan of Weiler's work.
Before long, Kip is sexually involved with the lovely Renee and she and Trimble together introduce him into a group of gun aficionados that had turned into a semi-religious cult. For the people caught in the dead-end existence of this small rural community, the Gun Church provides the only excitement and escape that they are likely to find.
Kip is quickly caught up and finds that these new relationships have reinvigorated his literary imagination. He starts writing again and is suddenly producing the best work of his life. But then things take a very unexpected turn and suddenly that life is in serious jeopardy.
This is a gripping, well-written novel with a lot of discussion about the writing life and the business of writing, and it should appeal to a wide audience. Readers who like crime fiction and those looking for insights into the writing life should certainly enjoy it.
June 17, 2014
Ken "KIP" Weiler is a middle-aged has-been writer; a "victim" of fame, drugs and alcohol, and who is now teaching at a backwater community college in the middle of nowhere. And although Kip's relatively clean and sober now, he's less than successful, even less happy and with little or no future - rarely recognized or remembered.
All of that changes in a brief and unfortunately much too familiar moment of horror when one of his students takes Kip and his class hostage at gun point. And Kip, in a moment of frustration, impatience, desperation and even possibly altruism, acts, and becomes a "hero" - leading to a second 15 minutes of fame. This new recognition includes joining the local and clandestine "Gun Church" - a "Fight Club" of sorts with weapons and live ammo. The "parishioners" include - besides almost everyone else in town - two of Kip's students; a drop dead gorgeous blond aka The St. Pauli Girl, and Jim, who idolizes our protagonist and his works. Both of whom become major influences - good? bad? - in Kip's new life as he attempts to redeem/reinvent himself both personally and professionally.
Unfortunately this reader could never buy into the premise/plausibility of the Gun Church; a major problem since the "church" is a major factor in the plot-line. And if I wasn't reviewing this book, it's doubtful I would have finished it. (There's also the sub-plot of a writer writing about the process of writing, which just never seems to work in a novel.) So as a fan of this author's Moe Prager series it's difficult to write this review, but Gun Church just simply didn't work for me; the metaphorical ball of string unraveling as the "church" monopolizes events after its introduction about a quarter of the way in and - at least for me - "contaminating" all that follows.
Bottom line - if you find the concept of the Gun Church and its parishioners plausible, you'll probably enjoy this book. If you can't suspend disbelief, Gun Church is cartoonish.
All of that changes in a brief and unfortunately much too familiar moment of horror when one of his students takes Kip and his class hostage at gun point. And Kip, in a moment of frustration, impatience, desperation and even possibly altruism, acts, and becomes a "hero" - leading to a second 15 minutes of fame. This new recognition includes joining the local and clandestine "Gun Church" - a "Fight Club" of sorts with weapons and live ammo. The "parishioners" include - besides almost everyone else in town - two of Kip's students; a drop dead gorgeous blond aka The St. Pauli Girl, and Jim, who idolizes our protagonist and his works. Both of whom become major influences - good? bad? - in Kip's new life as he attempts to redeem/reinvent himself both personally and professionally.
Unfortunately this reader could never buy into the premise/plausibility of the Gun Church; a major problem since the "church" is a major factor in the plot-line. And if I wasn't reviewing this book, it's doubtful I would have finished it. (There's also the sub-plot of a writer writing about the process of writing, which just never seems to work in a novel.) So as a fan of this author's Moe Prager series it's difficult to write this review, but Gun Church just simply didn't work for me; the metaphorical ball of string unraveling as the "church" monopolizes events after its introduction about a quarter of the way in and - at least for me - "contaminating" all that follows.
Bottom line - if you find the concept of the Gun Church and its parishioners plausible, you'll probably enjoy this book. If you can't suspend disbelief, Gun Church is cartoonish.
July 2, 2013
Yet another book I can't make up my mind about. There were parts of this book I really liked and other parts I kind of just plowed through while trying to read through my rolling eyes. It started off kind of meh. The big plot of this just didn't seem that intriguing. The big plot being that there is a group of people in a small town who belong to a "Gun Church" who shoot each other (while wearing protective gear) for thrills. Kind of a fight club with guns (the author made no effort to hide the comparison to Fight Club and even mentioned it in the text). The main character had to have been based on Bret Easton Ellis... famous writer of the 80s who lived it up big time. It just stunk of every Ellis book I've ever read... drugs, money, sex... So needless to say the main character is not exactly someone you are rooting for. Although I think he is supposed to be finding redemption throughout the book. Also, I really didn't care for the book within the book parts AT ALL.
I could go on... I dunno... For something I grabbed for free off of the free table at work, this was an enjoyable fluffy read. But I don't know if I'd really recommend it otherwise. The big reveal was just kind of... "Um... yah, you've been alluding to that the whole time". so not very shocking or gripping of a mystery.
I could go on... I dunno... For something I grabbed for free off of the free table at work, this was an enjoyable fluffy read. But I don't know if I'd really recommend it otherwise. The big reveal was just kind of... "Um... yah, you've been alluding to that the whole time". so not very shocking or gripping of a mystery.
August 11, 2019
“Addiction isn’t only about the here and now, but about the buzz of anticipation. It may well be a physical phenomenon, but it’s equally romantic. And wonderfully perverse way, addiction is like falling in love.“
Kip wastes his fifteen minutes of literary fame on cocaine, rude wise cracks, and an endless steam of blondes. His money is running out, his beloved wife has remarried, and other than seven terrible first lines, his ability to write has deserted him. His soul-sucking community college teaching job barely earns enough to keep his Porsche running. An act of violence swings the spotlight back in his direction, but it’s the secret society he gets invited to join that provides a better rush than cocaine and awakens his muse.
GUN CHURCH is packed with great writing, interesting characters, and twists. After contemplating the errors of his ways, Kip is refreshingly self-aware. He recognizes the fact he’s an addict in the thralls of a new deadly addiction, but can’t resist the thing that pulls him from his monotonous existence in a small mining town and which has the power of a second chance.
I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life.
I’ve read and enjoyed both the books in the author’s fabulously noir Gus Murphy series. I’m hoping for a new installment. As protagonists, Gus and Kip couldn’t be more different, but are both well rendered.
Kip wastes his fifteen minutes of literary fame on cocaine, rude wise cracks, and an endless steam of blondes. His money is running out, his beloved wife has remarried, and other than seven terrible first lines, his ability to write has deserted him. His soul-sucking community college teaching job barely earns enough to keep his Porsche running. An act of violence swings the spotlight back in his direction, but it’s the secret society he gets invited to join that provides a better rush than cocaine and awakens his muse.
GUN CHURCH is packed with great writing, interesting characters, and twists. After contemplating the errors of his ways, Kip is refreshingly self-aware. He recognizes the fact he’s an addict in the thralls of a new deadly addiction, but can’t resist the thing that pulls him from his monotonous existence in a small mining town and which has the power of a second chance.
I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life.
I’ve read and enjoyed both the books in the author’s fabulously noir Gus Murphy series. I’m hoping for a new installment. As protagonists, Gus and Kip couldn’t be more different, but are both well rendered.
March 7, 2018
I can only give this 2 stars because, even though I could tell the writing was extraordinary, I cannot say I would recommend it to anyone who wasn't predisposed to enjoying this sort of thing. I did not find it entertaining.
I didn't particularly enjoy the first-person narrator. He was just too meandering and self-centered. This might be the point, since he's this self-destructive, washed-up writer. He's still not someone I wanted to spend 500 pages of my life with. Maybe I'm dense. I didn't get the literary references that were no doubt sprinkled through out. It even felt a little 'overwritten' to me. Also, repetitive. Five chapters in and he's still calling someone "St. Pauli Girl" (not to her face, thankfully) even though he knows her name and is constantly sleeping with her. I got it after the first two or three times. But I don't get why she keeps throwing herself at him. Maybe it's part of the gun church plot. Maybe it's author-worship. It's just inexplicable at this point.
The gun church of the title makes an early appearance and then disappears. If it had reappeared earlier, along with some more interesting characters and some actual plot, I might have hung on and finished the book. It was intriguing. Moving on to something I do enjoy.
Notice that this is all just my reaction. There are plenty of 4 and 5 star reviews. This might be the sort of thing you'd like, if you like this sort of thing.
I didn't particularly enjoy the first-person narrator. He was just too meandering and self-centered. This might be the point, since he's this self-destructive, washed-up writer. He's still not someone I wanted to spend 500 pages of my life with. Maybe I'm dense. I didn't get the literary references that were no doubt sprinkled through out. It even felt a little 'overwritten' to me. Also, repetitive. Five chapters in and he's still calling someone "St. Pauli Girl" (not to her face, thankfully) even though he knows her name and is constantly sleeping with her. I got it after the first two or three times. But I don't get why she keeps throwing herself at him. Maybe it's part of the gun church plot. Maybe it's author-worship. It's just inexplicable at this point.
The gun church of the title makes an early appearance and then disappears. If it had reappeared earlier, along with some more interesting characters and some actual plot, I might have hung on and finished the book. It was intriguing. Moving on to something I do enjoy.
Notice that this is all just my reaction. There are plenty of 4 and 5 star reviews. This might be the sort of thing you'd like, if you like this sort of thing.
February 2, 2013
Wow, I really liked this book. This is mt first Coleman read, although I have several others on my pile, it just so happened to be on the shelf at my library so I snatched it up. The story revolves around a writer who made a name for himself in the 80's, but since, has struggled and basically fallen off the map. He now teaches at a small, rural community college and the book begins quickly. Kip Weiler saves his class from a student shooter and the ride begins. Two of the students from the class introduce him to the Gun Church, small group of shooters and thrill seekers who meet secretly, put on protective gear and shoot at each other with live ammo. I won't go into too many details, but the meetings take on several different forms, cutthroat, and fox hunt, among others. As Kip delves further into the club, his muse awakens and excerpts from a book he has been working on for years are intermingled within the overall narrative. As you work through the story, Kip has to deal with how his actions from the 80's screwed up his marriage, his writing and his whole life. He also has to confront the feeling that a part of this whole situation is being manipulated by someone or something else. I blew through this book in a couple of days and I highly recommend it.
March 24, 2015
Well done combination of old-school noir and more modern puzzle thriller. I didn't get any smarter reading it, but I had a lot of fun. I ever forgive the author for the amount of writing-about-writing and writing-about-publishing that is in there, which is quite a bit.
March 16, 2023
Gun Church by Reed Farrel Coleman [1/200 for 2023]
The Numbers:
Gun Church contains 396 pages divided into 54 relatively short chapters. I read it over the course of 2 nights. Found a used copy for $4.25 which is the saving grace for this book. While not a terrible story, it definitely isn't one I'd recommend paying full price to read.
Synopsis:
Our main character is Kip Weiler. He's introduced to us as a professor at Brixton County Community College. He used to be a big deal author in the 80's, but now he's all washed up and slowly going broke. He's bitter. He resents his job and his students. His inner monologue is almost wholly negative, focused on the unflattering attributes of everyone around him except for decades younger blonde women who all seemingly want to, in Kip's words, "fuck" him. You will never doubt that this book is written by a man.
Kip is involved in stopping a would be school shooter, a student in his English class named Stan Vuchovich. This event is his second "fifteen minutes of fame" and the catalyst that sets up for everything else that happens.
After stopping Stan's plan, Kip is invited to join a cult-like group that worships guns. The invite comes via an incredibly attractive blonde student of his that is, more or less, immediately head over heels in love with him. The group is spearheaded by Jim Trimble, another student that hero worships Kip for his writing in the 80's. There are weird rituals involved and an immediate, disconcerting atmosphere of everything not quite being what it seems.
Kip becomes addicted to shooting. His passion for writing returns. Snippets of his new book break-up some narrative chapters and seemingly bleed into reality as the story progresses. He wants to earn the respect of his ex-wife, Amy, and seems to only have good things happen to him. But that quickly spirals into something darker and more violent than Kip could have possibly imagined.
The base premise of the ending is predictable, but the details play out in satisfying, unexpected ways.
The Good:
The ending is strong. The last 5 chapters do a lot to help the reader forgive the overall story's more egregious flaws. The narrative is fast-paced, if a little choppy, and very action driven. There is some well done foreshadowing.
The Bad:
Every character except for Kip feels a little hollow and almost like caricatures of actual people. That makes Kip's overwhelmingly rude and unpleasant inner-monologue a little unbearable at times. There is nothing to counter his opinions about how small towns are empty places where people live pointless lives or how young women are obsessed with fame and fucking. The ending slightly offsets this, but it is a long walk and doesn't fully correct the issue by any means. Other than the ending, the one female character not obsessed with Kip from the moment they meet him is his agent, a lesbian who is presented as treating other women the same way Kip does. Go figure on that one.
The inserted tidbits from his novel are, um, pieces of a two star book. They work as a plot device, but make it hard to believe Kip is really a literary genius unless you really, really lower that bar. I can't say I really enjoyed any of them and sometimes they felt forced and hard to connect together for obvious plot purposes in the main story.
The writing feels choppy at times. Especially the way flashbacks are inserted. It can be jarring and make you feel like you missed paragraphs somewhere.
Conclusions:
If you need a weekend read and can find it at a discount, Gun Church delivers on drama and violence. It is a bleak story of desired redemption that leaves the reader to determine how successful the redemption arc truly is for Kip. It will not be everyone's cup of tea and contains some triggering passages concerning sexual assault, child abuse, and suicide. You have to be able to stomach inherently unlikable characters. I doubt it is a book anyone rereads much, but it does have a handful of interesting ideas and talking points sprinkled throughout. Don't go in with high expectations and you'll find it enjoyable enough to pass some hours.
The Numbers:
Gun Church contains 396 pages divided into 54 relatively short chapters. I read it over the course of 2 nights. Found a used copy for $4.25 which is the saving grace for this book. While not a terrible story, it definitely isn't one I'd recommend paying full price to read.
Synopsis:
Our main character is Kip Weiler. He's introduced to us as a professor at Brixton County Community College. He used to be a big deal author in the 80's, but now he's all washed up and slowly going broke. He's bitter. He resents his job and his students. His inner monologue is almost wholly negative, focused on the unflattering attributes of everyone around him except for decades younger blonde women who all seemingly want to, in Kip's words, "fuck" him. You will never doubt that this book is written by a man.
Kip is involved in stopping a would be school shooter, a student in his English class named Stan Vuchovich. This event is his second "fifteen minutes of fame" and the catalyst that sets up for everything else that happens.
After stopping Stan's plan, Kip is invited to join a cult-like group that worships guns. The invite comes via an incredibly attractive blonde student of his that is, more or less, immediately head over heels in love with him. The group is spearheaded by Jim Trimble, another student that hero worships Kip for his writing in the 80's. There are weird rituals involved and an immediate, disconcerting atmosphere of everything not quite being what it seems.
Kip becomes addicted to shooting. His passion for writing returns. Snippets of his new book break-up some narrative chapters and seemingly bleed into reality as the story progresses. He wants to earn the respect of his ex-wife, Amy, and seems to only have good things happen to him. But that quickly spirals into something darker and more violent than Kip could have possibly imagined.
The base premise of the ending is predictable, but the details play out in satisfying, unexpected ways.
The Good:
The ending is strong. The last 5 chapters do a lot to help the reader forgive the overall story's more egregious flaws. The narrative is fast-paced, if a little choppy, and very action driven. There is some well done foreshadowing.
The Bad:
Every character except for Kip feels a little hollow and almost like caricatures of actual people. That makes Kip's overwhelmingly rude and unpleasant inner-monologue a little unbearable at times. There is nothing to counter his opinions about how small towns are empty places where people live pointless lives or how young women are obsessed with fame and fucking. The ending slightly offsets this, but it is a long walk and doesn't fully correct the issue by any means. Other than the ending, the one female character not obsessed with Kip from the moment they meet him is his agent, a lesbian who is presented as treating other women the same way Kip does. Go figure on that one.
The inserted tidbits from his novel are, um, pieces of a two star book. They work as a plot device, but make it hard to believe Kip is really a literary genius unless you really, really lower that bar. I can't say I really enjoyed any of them and sometimes they felt forced and hard to connect together for obvious plot purposes in the main story.
The writing feels choppy at times. Especially the way flashbacks are inserted. It can be jarring and make you feel like you missed paragraphs somewhere.
Conclusions:
If you need a weekend read and can find it at a discount, Gun Church delivers on drama and violence. It is a bleak story of desired redemption that leaves the reader to determine how successful the redemption arc truly is for Kip. It will not be everyone's cup of tea and contains some triggering passages concerning sexual assault, child abuse, and suicide. You have to be able to stomach inherently unlikable characters. I doubt it is a book anyone rereads much, but it does have a handful of interesting ideas and talking points sprinkled throughout. Don't go in with high expectations and you'll find it enjoyable enough to pass some hours.
January 31, 2022
Ok. So I was super excited for this book, and it was a huge letdown. I mean, the title alone is great. A washed up 80s author discovers the dangers and thrills of shooting guns in the rural town where he’s teaching at a community college. Sounds great. Problems are as follows:
1- I cannot stress this enough, it is obnoxious and annoying when a grown man calls having sex “fucking.” As in, “ we fucked all night” or “our fucking was different.” There’s no way to take a 50 year old man seriously if he talks that way.
2- loggers and miners and inhabitants of rural towns are not all unhappy living dead end lives. Most of those people are happy and living good, productive lives
3- the characters are so unbelievably impossible. It is the most inauthentic cast of characters I’ve ever seen
4- the “chapel” is so fucking stupid. The idea of it is so fucking stupid. The whole book is a worthless turd
1- I cannot stress this enough, it is obnoxious and annoying when a grown man calls having sex “fucking.” As in, “ we fucked all night” or “our fucking was different.” There’s no way to take a 50 year old man seriously if he talks that way.
2- loggers and miners and inhabitants of rural towns are not all unhappy living dead end lives. Most of those people are happy and living good, productive lives
3- the characters are so unbelievably impossible. It is the most inauthentic cast of characters I’ve ever seen
4- the “chapel” is so fucking stupid. The idea of it is so fucking stupid. The whole book is a worthless turd
July 4, 2017
So different from 1st book of Colman I read.
Very interesting to the end. Washed up writer, Kip, running from drug addiction and loss of "the muse", ends teaching at a small college in upstate New York. When a student pulls a gun in his classroom, he becomes a hero and talks the kid into a position where a sniper can take him down.
From there the story goes crazy with a strange relationship between an ardent fan of the old "bad/Kippster", a pretty coed and a strange gun obsessed cult.
You don't know in the end how it really turns out for all the players or even who the players are.
Very interesting to the end. Washed up writer, Kip, running from drug addiction and loss of "the muse", ends teaching at a small college in upstate New York. When a student pulls a gun in his classroom, he becomes a hero and talks the kid into a position where a sniper can take him down.
From there the story goes crazy with a strange relationship between an ardent fan of the old "bad/Kippster", a pretty coed and a strange gun obsessed cult.
You don't know in the end how it really turns out for all the players or even who the players are.
April 23, 2025
wait why did i end up enjoying the hell out of this. like near the end it really picked up and got interesting. i would’ve never guessed the book was going on that direction but wow, it actually took me by surprise, which is rare! i really likes how unique all the characters were, and how the main character was morally grey with a bad past. i could totally see this book getting made into a movie, like it’s such an interesting concept.
July 28, 2018
Kip Wieler was once a well known author, but let the fame and fortune go to his head and up his nose.. He had fallen to almost the lowest level and was teaching at a small Community college when he performed an act of heroism that brought him back in somewhat of the limelight. He also found himself able to write again.
Very interesting story. Strange but interesting.
Very interesting story. Strange but interesting.
April 1, 2024
in all honesty, i almost put this book down in many places. the first half was a slow trudge through pointless information and no moving plot. the second half was pretty good and not expected. i genuinely am only giving this three stars because of how good the ending was.
April 12, 2018
Fantastic book!! So well written - kept me going to the last page
June 25, 2022
Stopped reading it..couldn't get into it.
July 17, 2023
3.5 rounded up.
March 6, 2013
Reed Farrel Coleman is the author of fourteen novels, including three series books, among those the seven terrific Moe Prager books, This is his third standalone, and it is a beaut. As good a description of “Gun Church” as any would be contemporary noir, with the large quantities of violence and sex that the term implies. But the surreal world created in these pages is less easily classified.
“Kip” Weller, once a boy wonder who produced three hugely successful novels with the attendant fame, has fallen far in thirty years. His fame, his career, his money and his marriage are all now in the past, and after more than one interim stint as a visiting teacher at Columbia, for the last twenty years he has been teaching English at Brixton County Community College in a little mining town. Then his life totally changes again as he stands up to a deranged student with a gun, saving the lives of the students who had been taken hostage. And then changes again soon after, when Kip is introduced, one might even say, inducted by Jim, one of his students and an ardent and devoted fan, into a group of “gun junkies” who meet regularly in a venue that they call their “chapel,” a fitting place for the virtual worship of guns implied by the book’s title. Soon Kip gains a certain proficiency not only from his ‘meetings’ at the chapel, but also from his and Jim’s daily sessions of shooting practice in the wood outside of town.
One could almost say Kip becomes transformed by the ensuing rush that becomes almost a new addiction, after the dependence on drugs, alcohol and sex that typified his prior life in New York. Having once described himself as “a bitter, talentless, middle-aged boor,” he becomes so thoroughly divorced from the man and the writer that he had been that he refers to his former self in the third person. One outcome of his new obsession is that, for the first time in years, he is able to really begin writing again, a novel that had been limited to seven incomplete sentences, and he instinctively knows that the work is the best he has ever done. His protagonist is based on a man he actually met, a killer for hire at the time of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, who had given Kip a notebook fully describing his life as such, in essence the biography of a murderer. Using his new-found “hobby” and fellow church members in the book, at a certain point Kip is not sure where his creation ends and he begins [or vice versa]. To say that the results are successful is as true as to say that they are also disastrous. I would advise readers to make sure they have nothing urgent awaiting their attention when sitting down with “Gun Church;” for this reader, dinner was a couple of hours late after I started the last third of the book - - I simply couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended.
“Kip” Weller, once a boy wonder who produced three hugely successful novels with the attendant fame, has fallen far in thirty years. His fame, his career, his money and his marriage are all now in the past, and after more than one interim stint as a visiting teacher at Columbia, for the last twenty years he has been teaching English at Brixton County Community College in a little mining town. Then his life totally changes again as he stands up to a deranged student with a gun, saving the lives of the students who had been taken hostage. And then changes again soon after, when Kip is introduced, one might even say, inducted by Jim, one of his students and an ardent and devoted fan, into a group of “gun junkies” who meet regularly in a venue that they call their “chapel,” a fitting place for the virtual worship of guns implied by the book’s title. Soon Kip gains a certain proficiency not only from his ‘meetings’ at the chapel, but also from his and Jim’s daily sessions of shooting practice in the wood outside of town.
One could almost say Kip becomes transformed by the ensuing rush that becomes almost a new addiction, after the dependence on drugs, alcohol and sex that typified his prior life in New York. Having once described himself as “a bitter, talentless, middle-aged boor,” he becomes so thoroughly divorced from the man and the writer that he had been that he refers to his former self in the third person. One outcome of his new obsession is that, for the first time in years, he is able to really begin writing again, a novel that had been limited to seven incomplete sentences, and he instinctively knows that the work is the best he has ever done. His protagonist is based on a man he actually met, a killer for hire at the time of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, who had given Kip a notebook fully describing his life as such, in essence the biography of a murderer. Using his new-found “hobby” and fellow church members in the book, at a certain point Kip is not sure where his creation ends and he begins [or vice versa]. To say that the results are successful is as true as to say that they are also disastrous. I would advise readers to make sure they have nothing urgent awaiting their attention when sitting down with “Gun Church;” for this reader, dinner was a couple of hours late after I started the last third of the book - - I simply couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended.
January 18, 2013
This book took me a little while to get into. Kip, the protagonist, is a once-famous author, recovering cocaine addict and a promiscuous and morally bankrupt has-been who is trapped in a dead-end job teaching English at a community college in a mining town (Brixton). His life is changed when, one day, one of his students pulls a gun on the class. He grabs the gun from the student, a la a scene from one of HIS books, and thus begins the change. He is invited by two of his students - Renee, who he refers to as the St Pauli Girl; and Jim, who I like to think of as his "biggest fan," - to be a part of a "club" where members shoot guns at each other for kicks. He enters into an affair with Renee and forms a solidly close relationship with Jim, who teaches him to shoot and mentors him through participation in the club. The hostage situation also sparks in him the desire to write a book again, after many years of not writing, and through a series of events he is invited to once again publish. However, gradually it becomes clear that things are not as they seem, and that even with protective gear in place, bad stuff happens when people shoot guns at each other.
The summary on the back of the book is probably more alluring, but it was enough to capture my interest.
At any rate, there was a bit of a slow start to the book in the beginning. There isn't much to like about Kip at the beginning though he grew on me throughout the book. In fact, none of the characters are estimable. But they are interesting, and as the story progressed I found myself caught in its web. The last hundred pages were a much faster read than the rest. As Kip withdraws from the tightly controlled setting of Brixton and the gun club, things begin to unravel. I won't give away the ending except to say the the antagonist is not a surprise, and the core rationale used to justify the actions of the bad guy are not a surprise. However the pathway traveled is interesting... and disturbing.
All in, a good read. Not a quick read (too many details for this to be a quick read) but interesting and worthwhile.
The summary on the back of the book is probably more alluring, but it was enough to capture my interest.
At any rate, there was a bit of a slow start to the book in the beginning. There isn't much to like about Kip at the beginning though he grew on me throughout the book. In fact, none of the characters are estimable. But they are interesting, and as the story progressed I found myself caught in its web. The last hundred pages were a much faster read than the rest. As Kip withdraws from the tightly controlled setting of Brixton and the gun club, things begin to unravel. I won't give away the ending except to say the the antagonist is not a surprise, and the core rationale used to justify the actions of the bad guy are not a surprise. However the pathway traveled is interesting... and disturbing.
All in, a good read. Not a quick read (too many details for this to be a quick read) but interesting and worthwhile.
December 19, 2012
A once popular literary wonder, Kip Weiler has sacrificed his talent to artificial highs and sunk to a level where he is unable to write. He’s lost his fame, his wife and his initiative and is living in obscurity, teaching at a rural community college.
Then, when he least expects it, fate steps in. A memory from one of his novels spurs a heroic act that saves his class from a bloodbath at the hands of a gun-toting student. The incident sparks renewed interest in his past work.
It also initiates unanticipated attention from Renee Svoboda, a beautiful student he’s dubbed the St. Pauli Girl, and Jim Trimble, a gushing fan of Weiler’s work. They introduce him to a cult engaged in dangerous worship of the gun.
Kip’s talent is resurrected by his new obsessions and he begins to dream of a return to glory. Those dreams are short-lived as he finds himself and those he loves drawn into a bizarre and threatening web fueled by deceit and fantasy.
Though my preference is for Coleman’s Moe Prager series, this is a gripping, fast-paced novel that definitely held my attention. In the wake of the recent school shootings it raises some disturbing questions about the American obsession with guns.
Then, when he least expects it, fate steps in. A memory from one of his novels spurs a heroic act that saves his class from a bloodbath at the hands of a gun-toting student. The incident sparks renewed interest in his past work.
It also initiates unanticipated attention from Renee Svoboda, a beautiful student he’s dubbed the St. Pauli Girl, and Jim Trimble, a gushing fan of Weiler’s work. They introduce him to a cult engaged in dangerous worship of the gun.
Kip’s talent is resurrected by his new obsessions and he begins to dream of a return to glory. Those dreams are short-lived as he finds himself and those he loves drawn into a bizarre and threatening web fueled by deceit and fantasy.
Though my preference is for Coleman’s Moe Prager series, this is a gripping, fast-paced novel that definitely held my attention. In the wake of the recent school shootings it raises some disturbing questions about the American obsession with guns.
September 2, 2013
Coleman is trying to achieve several interesting objectives in this book -- ambitious, admirable, and achieved. As a stem-winder of a contemporary noir thriller, it's a rollicking good read; you'll stay up past your bedtime as you keep turning pages. As a look back to the 1980s as an example of excess on too many fronts to count, it's a painful hangover. As a critical perspective on some of that decade's hot literature and the bad boys who wrote it, this book is likely to remind you that some things don't age particularly well. As insight into the publishing industry, it may be funny, eye-opening, or painful, depending on your position relative to it. Coleman also manages to tell a couple of other stories within the story, offer some interesting thoughts about geographic and class divisions in America, write some true things about gun guys and gun culture, and expose some of what passes for higher education for most Americans. If you're looking for a happy ending, noir probably isn't your cup of tea, but Coleman manages to tie up a lot of threads in a way that honors his story and characters.
November 30, 2012
This is the story of Kip Weiler, who once was a superstar author, but lost everything and is now a teacher at a community college in a small mining town. He spends his time teaching bored kids and sleeping with his co-workers. Lost all his creativity, but has gained some notoriety when he saves his students from another suicidal student. His adrenaline starts flowing and his creative juices warming up when he joins a secret cult that worships guns. But the more he gets involved the crazier it gets and there is more than one psychopath in this group. Soon, people are dying and those close to Kip are threatened. Will Kip stop the horror and be able to finish his novel?
I have to say that this book is a real page turner and I couldn’t put it down. The fast paced suspense building up to the climax made it such a fascinating read. At first, I didn’t care for the narcissistic Kip, and couldn’t believe what some people do to relieve the boredom from their lives, but as the story unfolded, I couldn’t’ help but wanting Kip to overcome it all.
I have to say that this book is a real page turner and I couldn’t put it down. The fast paced suspense building up to the climax made it such a fascinating read. At first, I didn’t care for the narcissistic Kip, and couldn’t believe what some people do to relieve the boredom from their lives, but as the story unfolded, I couldn’t’ help but wanting Kip to overcome it all.
February 9, 2013
I've read all the Moe Prager books by Reed. Gun Church is a departure from those books and it took some getting used to at first. Kip Weiler is a has been writer brought down by drugs and women. His one goal is to gain the respect of his ex wife who has remarried. To do this end he buries himself in a small hick town teaching literature in a community college. He soon finds himself drawn into a new, different kind of addiction. We follow Kip down the road as he gets hooked. Kip's story kept me reading but it was a slow process until the last third of the book when everything changes for Kip. I couldn't put down the book until i reached the last page at two in the morning.
September 4, 2016
This is about a guy who is dealing with writers block while teaching at a college. He does something extraordinary and gets invited to join a secret society make up of mostly students. They face off and shoot at each other and get off on the adrenaline. It's a bit weird and there's much more going on than just the secret society. The main character gets caught up in a mess and doesn't really know who he can and cannot trust. It's a decent read but not one of my favorites. It gets a little far fetched (kind of like Gone Girl), but for the most part is pretty good.
November 26, 2012
Great premise -- a washed up writer goes to a down-and-out mining town, gets a job at a local junior college, and gets in a load of trouble involving guns, a woman who is way to young for him, and an obsessed boy fan. It got a bit long after the middle, though, and the central character is essentially an unsympathetic male chauvinist elitist creep. I listened to it as an audiobook, and it helped pass the time while I was doing Thanksgiving chores.
December 6, 2012
I read this in an e book format so it moved at a different pace than usual. At first, I thought this was an interesting, quirky, somewhat off the wall disjointed book. It certainly kept me interested, but I was unprepared for the roller coaster last 1/3 of this book. Fasten your seat belt and hold on boyos because this one hits a whole new gear and leaves you almost breathless until the last 3-5 pages. Wow, what a finish. It pulled it up to 4 stars for me. Good weird fun, a great story.
January 31, 2013
Kip Weiler was a 'superstar' author of the 80's, but that was a few decades ago, and now he is teaching writing at a fourth-rate community college. He's sleepwalking through life until he meets Jim and Renee, and they induct him into the radical fringe of the gun culture.
The characters are well-written, and the story is powerful and compelling. And, this novel begs(Please!Please!Please!)to be made into a film. It would be like Rupert Pupkin joins FIGHT CLUB.
The characters are well-written, and the story is powerful and compelling. And, this novel begs(Please!Please!Please!)to be made into a film. It would be like Rupert Pupkin joins FIGHT CLUB.
January 12, 2013
Gun Church by Reed Farrel Coleman is about a writer down on his luck. When he moves into a new town and meets up with some new people, he starts to "live again." However, when his new book and his real life start to interact, trouble is brewing. Because of the good twist and the ending, I give it 5 stars. It's not a "must read" for everyone, but I enjoyed it.
(Gerard's review)
(Gerard's review)
February 22, 2013
I enjoyed this book. There didn't seem to be much to it until I got close to the end when everything started to get crazy. If you're just looking for something fun and engaging, something that won't make you think too hard, this will probably fit the bill. Every now and again, it's nice to just relax and read a book without having to think too hard about it.
April 18, 2013
My first book by this author. Good writing style, though some of the sexual references were a bit juvenile (though I think that was in the characters' voice, rather than the author's). Overall, good story, with decent mystery thrown in. All the little hints dropped throughout the book are brought together nicely in the end. An entertaining read, to be sure.
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