The Viking Process

by 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 “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.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction

Paperback

First published March 12, 1976

About the author

Norman Hartley has spent most of his life writing and wandering the world, first as a freelance while selling beer in Africa, then as a Reuters correspondent, roving newspaper reporter and broadcaster and later as a BBC editor. He has written four thrillers, The Saxon Network, The Viking Process, Shadowplay and Quicksilver.His work has been translated into twelve languages.

The details are on his website
www.normanhartleybooks.com

Reviews

[Feliks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Techno-thriller. Dystopic. BDSM erotica. Actioner. Psychological thriller. Political thriller. This one tale knits all this together. Long before anyone else even thought of such a project. 'Viking Process' is probably the most unique, audacious, page-turner ever conceived. If you pick it up today, you will find it has as modern-sounding a voice as anyone currently writing.

Most thrillers take as their starting point an existing set of conditions we all recognize; familiar surroundings which we're all comfortable with. Then, the thriller author begins to insert 'disruption'.

Excitement and suspense build as characters 'break rules' and behave recklessly and foolhardy. Chases--races against time--hurtling automobiles, heroes or villains leaping over railings, racing out onto airport runways, commandeering planes, etc.

All well and good. But 'Viking Process' is not that kind of everyday, run-of-the-mill thriller. This book does not fit any known genre like espionage, crime, or sci-fi; nor is it a commando or wartime-style thriller.

In this work, Norman Hartley first goes to great lengths to describe a 'slightly' futuristic society. Its a world mostly familiar--but just a little bit not. Its as if he's talking about a society just a few years away. Just-over-the-horizon. Not that much different from today.

I can't name any other thriller in which the author goes to this trouble in creating a backdrop. But from this labor and effort in story exposition, stems the novel's surreal, unsettling atmosphere. It doesn't matter when you read it, the events in the book always feel as if they are 'about to happen'.

Next: the fulcrum of the plot is this very feasible premise: Hartley asks, "What if all the multi-national corporations we have today, suddenly start *warring* with each other the way that feudal states used to do? What will occur when they start actual warfare for each other's market-share?"

Its ingenious. A little bit of modern Agincourt. Which conglomerate will take the first step and move to "obliterate" a rival cartel instead of just 'out-sell' it? What happens when a corporation decides that the profits are so great it should really..'stop at nothing'?

The story proceeding from this jump-off is thunderously good. It is fast and disturbing and sexual and violent and scary.

It helps that Hartley uses foreign countries and rural settings to help forestall potential anachronisms. A safe-house in the English countryside; downtown Montreal; a sex club; a supermarket in the London suburbs.

Some readers will always insist on complaining, though. Example: references to "gas-guzzling" cars which were common when this book was penned. References to "long hairs". Sure, 'smaller cars' dominate today; haircuts are shorter; but so what? Anyone who says its 'dated' for these minor quibbles, is misleading you. Hartley's ideas--overall concept--may very well, still be waiting in store for us.

The breakneck climax is equal to anything by Trevanian or David Morrell--action all the way--exotic and spectacular. And there's an underlying nastiness which will stay with you a long time. You won't easily forget what the word 'scenario' means [in the context of this yarn]; and you won't soon forget a chemical named 'Haltoxidon'; nor will you ever forget one of the creepiest villains ever, 'Simon Peace'.

Chilling and unforgettable, a milestone in the genre; a book that should be well-known by a lot more people than currently do.

[Magiccats · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can't say I liked this book at all. The sexual aspect of it was too much in your face and seemed a large part of the book. Finally put the book down halfway through, as I consider time reading this is actually time wasted.
.

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got through Chapter 5. This has some decent recommendations, but I found it both less than impressive in the writing, and thoroughly unpleasant in the reading. The “underlying nastiness” mentioned by one commenter is apparent from the get-go and leaves a bad taste without any promise of compensating insight.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Viking Process” is a 1976 techno-terrorism novel. The protagonist, Philip Russell, is an expert on terrorism and urban guerrilla warfare. While on an international trip to speak at a conference on the terrorism war, he decides to go to a movie, where he meets Michelle, a young and very seductive woman. He goes to bed that night a faithful married man, loses his loyalty card, and wakes up to find himself blackmailed by a dark side organization called the ISC—the Institute for Social Change.

The ICS’s goal is the disruption and downfall of the most powerful force ion Earth—multinational corporations; its methods are economic terrorism. The Institute’s key figures are Pearce, its chief strategist, and a man aptly named Hairy, a brilliant inventor of high-tech solutions to anything and everything. Harry provides the technology, Philip is supposed to provide knowledge of the motives and techniques of guerrilla movements, and Pearce melds the two into development of a powerful force called the Vikings.

Philip is enlisted as a consultant and educated in the Institute’s methods of guerilla training—complete control of the individual through mind games. If Philip disobeys, his wife will be punished. To assist Philip, an old friend and brilliant Harvard economist (aren’t they all “brilliant?”) is co-opted into the ICS’s service. We suspect, however, that their true roles are as scapegoats rather than as advisors.

So the game is afoot. The Vikings develop novel ways to kill and maim, methods that pass the preliminary tests, then start their program by causing death and disaster for one major multinational—the Intermark Corporation. But what are the motives of the ISC—-multinational demise or simple elimination of the competition? How will Philip and company stop the Vikings?

The meat of the novel is standard stuff—treachery, death, good versus evil, the machinations of an apparently overwhelming opponent—big business, and the struggle of the individual against the odds.
Trite as its building blocks are, it is a real page turner that I found satisfying. “The Viking Process” is far from great literature, but for a story that pulls you in and draws you along, resting those little gray cells as you proceed, its quite satisfying. It is surprisingly modern for a novel almost forty years old. I give it 3 and one-half stars and round it up.

[Devi · Rating 3 out of 5]

While somewhat dated by the references in the story it is a fun read that could work in today's time as well. Moved at a good pace keeping my interest, though it was somewhat predictable.

[Felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of nice plot twists but too much self-importance and melodrama for a modern reader. Still, for a genre read not bad, especially if ones allows oneself a modicum of skimming.