Tailgates & Bonfires
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Illustration gallery

Lost River
in pictures.

Every chapter has its own moment. Browse the complete collection, then choose an illustration to return to the story behind it.

25 illustrations
Dan Callahan looks down at the narcotics bulging from his hoodie pocket as a smiling campus police officer drives away holding an autographed football01

Chapter 1

Good Intentions

Dan leads an uneasy prayer around Kristy Lee as Black former football player Marcus Reed watches from behind the couch, Rachel touches Kristy Lee’s forehead, and blue police lights flash through the window02

Chapter 2

Signs and Wonders

Dan peers through the blinds at black vehicles and a campus police roadblock while Marcus stands behind him clutching a pill bottle in fear03

Chapter 3

A House Divided

Dan hurls a black-clad false police officer through a coffee table as Gene reaches for a fallen rifle and blue lights fill the shattered living room04

Chapter 4

Not Peace, but a Sword

Dan fires from the shattered passenger window of a speeding black SUV while Gene drives and the final pursuing vehicle disappears into smoke behind them05

Chapter 5

A Way of Escape

Dan rejects Albert Davidson between two private jets while Gene stands armed nearby and the others wait beside Dan’s plane06

Chapter 6

Choose This Day

Dan and Rachel study each other across a table inside a dim private jet as two untouched bourbon bottles sit between them and their companions rest nearby07

Chapter 7

Peace, Be Still

Dan breaks down in Nain’s arms outside the Texas ranch while their companions stand nearby and Rachel watches with unsettling calm08

Chapter 8

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Dan breaks the salt circle outside Mama’s barn at night and finds the blond-haired John waiting beneath a lantern amid maps, photographs, and red string09

Chapter 9

Angels Unawares

Nain shouts and points toward a service van as Dan looks back in shock and the others flee beneath helicopter searchlights during an attack on the ranch10

Chapter 10

Things Not Seen

Rachel raises one hand beneath a miraculous sky of colored light while the others stare in wonder, an old man collapses, and Sasha alone watches Rachel with distrust11

Chapter 11

An Angel of Light

Gene restrains Dan after his fight with Bodhi in an impossible garden while Rachel watches calmly from the porch and Sasha stares at her with suspicion12

Chapter 12

By Their Fruits

Dan studies a cut across his palm as an exhausted Henry sits beside a restored ballerina music box between a flourishing garden and a dead field13

Chapter 13

What Shall It Profit?

Dan, Gene, and Bodhi watch Rachel standing restored in a warmly lit dining-room window while the moonlit garden closes and withers around her14

Chapter 14

The Bread of Sorrows

Henry offers Dan the keys to a battered service van as Dan chooses to remain with the group and continue the dangerous journey15

Chapter 15

Here Am I

Dan offers his hand to Wade after the pirate-costumed former quarterback falls during their foam-sword duel at the colorful Decadence Day festival16

Chapter 16

Before a Fall

Dan, Bodhi, and Kristy Lee tend to the wounded Sasha beside a fountain while Rachel lies exhausted and black-robed figures close in through the festival crowd17

Chapter 17

No Greater Love

Dan, Gene, Willard, and Rachel join hands in prayer outside a veterinary treatment room while Felicia and Kristy Lee work to save Sasha beside Bodhi18

Chapter 18

Faith Without Works

Dan stands beside a stalled black limousine as Gene, Bodhi, Kristy Lee, Rachel, and the wounded Sasha approach a white farmhouse and red barn in golden evening light19

Chapter 19

A Place Prepared

Dan deliberately steps through an open floor door into a vast darkness and the distant Lost River while warm evening light and the road home remain behind him20

Chapter 20

Walk by Faith

Rachel raises a golden chalice from a black throne as golden threads rise from kneeling villagers, while Dan, Gene, Kristy Lee, Henderson, Bodhi, and Sasha stand together before her21

Chapter 21

The Wide Gate

Dan kneels with a knowing smile before the Dreamer wearing Rachel’s face and raising a ceremonial knife, as Gene reaches toward him and masked figures watch from the balcony22

Chapter 22

Into Temptation

Dan holds a wooden door open to the Farm as his friends and Sasha escape, while blond-haired John stands among white roses in the collapsing castle23

Chapter 23

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Rachel and Bodhi embrace their gray-muzzled black Labrador Sasha on a farmhouse bed beneath a spray-painted heart, with warm sunlight entering the sparsely furnished room24

Chapter 24

Restoration

Dan sits in a folding chair beside Hannah Callahan’s grave, talking to his mother beneath a vast blue sky overlooking the rolling Texas ranch hills25

Epilogue

Faith, Hope, and Love