An author’s first novel shows how current events could be leading towards a Third World War - but believes his work may also be a handbook for saving the planet.

Kerry Davies, who is originally from Wales but has lived in Farnham for 20 years, said of The Fracture: “The book is set in the near future and presents a chilling yet deliberately plausible scenario in which social fragmentation, political radicalisation and international tension in the West escalate into civil unrest and ultimately nuclear war.

“While fictional, it is well researched, referenced and grounded in real-world trends and recent events, and seems eerily prescient, foreshadowing as it does several real-world events that have occurred as 'predicted' in the book. It is intended as a cautionary exploration of where current trajectories could lead.”

Mr Davies, a military contractor, explained how the book came about.

He said: “I looked at what was going on in the world at the time. I was voraciously reading newspapers.

“Reading newspapers, watching television and listening to the radio, a lot of things clicked into place. I started scribbling things down, and a lot of things started to happen, so I sketched out what was going to happen from start to finish, and it was very depressing. Is there a way of avoiding that?

“I started thinking about two things. Artificial intelligence is potentially the saviour, but also a curse. Religion has caused wars in the past, but could it save the planet?

“If we give somebody nuclear weapons, they are going to use them - and that’s the end of the world.”

Kerry’s business partner Pamela Rustem said: “It’s almost like a warning sign to people to read it.

“It’s an opportunity for people to hold back about doing these things, saying if you take a different route it could end up differently - so this book is quite intriguing.

“You think ‘this is exactly what’s happening’. Each chapter asks a question: ‘What can we do differently?’ I’ve never read a book so quickly.”

Kerry added: “I came up with this idea of artificial intelligence being a saviour, like Tom Cruise in Minority Report, with the Cask Data Application Platform (CDAP).

“It predicts crimes that are going to happen. They are using it in the UK at the moment and the success rate is enormous, about 70 to 80 per cent.

“I thought ‘how could CDAP be that successful?’, but I wondered if artificial intelligence is creating the problem so it can solve it - so that became the twist in the book.”

Pamela added: “There is a very strong technical background with the police and military all over the world. He has that background and puts that knowledge and experience into his writing to render that credibility.”

Kerry said: “I’ve written it so it’s embedded in truth. As I wrote it, I put hyperlinks in to reference my sources. It was almost like an academic work. Everything in there is true and fact checked - although you don’t want that for a novel!”

The Fracture is available on Amazon.