Sacrificial Lambs: A novel

by Chuck Hansen

For Tom and Amy Smith, life is good. They have each other, a small home, and a couple of bucks for occasional take-out. Most importantly, they have Billy, their toddler son, who is learning to talk, and says things like “big truck!” and “doggy!” and “I AM THE LORD GOD! I SET IN MOTION THE UNIVERSE FOR YOU!”
It’s that last, unexpected proclamation, caught on video by GNBNC (the Global News Broadcasting Network Co.), that turns the Smiths’ world upside down. The family is soon running for their lives from a competing cast of cutthroat characters who see the boy as a golden opportunity or an existential threat: the televangelist founder of the Jones International Ministry and the Christ Almighty Family Theme Park; a GNBNC anchor and recovering tabloid reporter; Virginia’s first female governor, an attractive rising political star with serious stability issues; and, a Machiavellian president determined to take out the toddler who could derail his reelection. In the family's corner are an aging pastor and his enthusiastic but altar-blocked young lieutenant, and America’s most hated billionaire.
Sacrificial Lambs culminates in a chaotic confrontation on world-wide television, featuring political opportunism, media exploitation, a deadly ambush, and a thunderous news flash heard around the world.

337 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 4, 2019