The Viking Process — Norman Hartley

The Viking Process is a spellbinding novel about a giant multi-national corporation that sets out to destroy its rival, using all the techniques of sophisticated terrorism �" assassination, kidnapping, media exploitation and ultra-violence. Philip Russell is an expert on terrorism and urban warfare. A skilful piece of sexual blackmail drags him from his academic world and happy marriage into the hands of the Vikings, a group of young, smart, well-funded terrorists. They appear to be planning to destroy a multi-national corporation in the name of social justice and Russell is forced to help them by Michelle, a young woman psychologist, skilled in the art of sexual manipulation. But Russell is not easily manipulated. He quickly discovers that the Vikings are not what they seem and that social justice is the last of their concerns. Finding himself trapped in a vicious struggle between rival corporations, Russell uses his ingenuity, expertise and mountaineering skills to escape from the Vikings and take one last desperate chance to block their nightmare scenario. Press Reviews ‘A thriller with class. It has as much sex and technological gadgetry as any by Ian Fleming, but the sex is human and the technology both plausible and significant.' Washington Post ‘The Viking Process does for terrorism what Frederick Forsyth did for assassination in The Day of the Jackal and John le Carré did for espionage in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.. There is no let up on the pace until the very last moment. Boston Herald American ‘This is about as far out as a suspense story can get and still be totally gripping. A truly different thriller with tension from start to finish.' The Houston Post. ‘Torture, murder, sex. Real hard-boiled stuff. The reader is taken on a roller coaster'. The Hartford Courant ‘The author knows big business and big violence intimately. His delivery is clear and sure.. and as a character in Hartley's story puts it: “if you let multinational corporations behave like sovereign states, you must expect them to start fighting wars.”' Buffalo Evening News The Viking Process rivets the reader to his chair. In something more than 40 years as a professional reader, I have rarely encountered an author who could match Hartley's breathtaking literary pace. Hartley has but one speed �" forward. He sets off at full gallop and he gallops to the end.' Robert Fuoss Philadelphia Bulletin. ‘Impels the reader to turn the pages.' The Indianapolis Star.