Night Hunter 2: The Talisman by Robert Faulcon

Night Hunter 2
The Talisman
by Robert Faulcon (Robert Holdstock)
1983 Arrow Books

Dan Brady continues his investigation of the shadowy Arachne organization and looking for his kidnapped family. His leads point him to a small English town where visitors have been inexplicably obsessed with returning. An archeological dig is linked to disappearances and brutal axe murders as Brady tries to find the connection between Arachne and the spirit of a vengeful Viking.

Notes of folk horror and British style psychical research, and the series balances well between a "monster of the week" and continuing his main search for his family. Some nasty Viking torture, including the Blood Eagle, where the victim's lungs are pulled out of their ribcage and spread like wings. And may be the only story with a reanimated corpse with a sword hilt dangling out of it's ass.

Paperback from Amazon