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A Potential Outbreak of World War
Article Five follows a prime minister who tries to maintain political and moral stability as coordinated attacks and sabotage push NATO toward collective defense. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
In truth the inspiration came from news events back in 2023 and 2024, I would see news feeds that hypothesised a potential outbreak of world war three, and on seeing government responses I wondered how that would pan out if the unthinkable actually happened. So, the book evolved from a short story about a British tank crew in Estonia, growing to over ten thousand words which is quite unwieldy for a short story, and I began to wonder what was happening elsewhere, such as the corridors of power in Whitehall and the story grew into a multi-person perspective following the different views of war, from the civilian to the combat troops on the front line. I was keen to include a prime minister who grows throughout the story, in the beginning he is preoccupied about his polling numbers and public image, but soon becomes a war time leader who has to make life and death decisions.
What kind of research went into putting this book together?
That was the exciting part! Writing can sometimes feel like a challenge, and it takes dedication—and maybe a little nudge to remind yourself about commitment. But I never lost my enthusiasm for the research. Every scene had me online, immersed in military books, or revisiting works by Tom Clancy and Harold Coyle, exploring the technology they mention. Of course, since the mid-1980s, times and technology have evolved, so I dedicated myself to in-depth research into military technology, ranks, unit structures, and the capabilities of equipment such as missiles and helicopters. My goal was to get everything just right—I didn’t want to invent details I couldn’t back up. If the real technology couldn’t handle it, neither could my story. I was committed to realism, and through thorough research, I aimed to bring that to life. When it came to political details, I’ve always enjoyed keeping up with the news and staying interested in our national politics. Much of those elements in the novel are based on what I’ve observed our politicians say and do, with a bit of artistic license to imagine those secret conversations behind closed doors.
What draws you toward the political thriller genre?
Initially, I wasn’t intending to write a political thriller, I was trying to write an out and out military thriller. However, as the novel grew, I needed to explore the political aspects that would be unravelling in the background, and so I began to explore that and bring in a prime minister who didn’t expect to be leading a nation in war. That said, I really enjoyed writing about the challenges a prime minister might face during a war, the need to keep the king informed, the combative nature of parliament, and dealing with endless intelligence briefings and misinformation on social media. For me that brings a military story to life, those political machinations behind the scenes that are often hidden until a tell all documentary is released many years later.
Can we look forward to more work from you soon? What are you currently working on?
I’ve definitely got the writing bug. That said, juggling family and a full-time job means writing is not always my priority, so finding the time becomes the issue. Article Five took me two years to write, but I was very much learning during the process. Since its release in September 2025, I have continued writing and learnt how to better manage planning a novel. My next book is due out after easter, but that one returns to my roots and is a historical military thriller. Set in 1941, the story predominantly follows one character, the skipper of a British submarine operating in the meditation as he and his crew try to halt supply conveys reaching from Italy to feed Rommel’s Afrika Corps panzers in North Africa. The plan is this will form the first in a sequence of three books; all set in in the Mediterranean theatre, early 1941 and from a British perspective. 1941 was known as the long year in Britian as they were very much alone, with Axis forces occupying most of western Europe, and at this point neither Russia or the United States were officially in the war, and so the British felt very much alone and isolated. The next book in the trilogy, Hellfire Pass, will examine the experiences of a tank commander in the 8th Army in the North African desert facing a resurgent Rommel, and the third, Tail End Charlie, will examine the experience of a rear gunner in a Wellington bomber in the skies over North Africa. All that will certainly keep me busy over the next year.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
When a newly elected U.S. President abandons NATO, Russia seizes the opportunity to strike, launching a full-scale invasion of Estonia. As Europe stands alone, British forces scramble to hold the line against an unstoppable enemy.
In London, MI6 operative John Rafferty hunts a Russian defector—until a sleeper agent turns the streets into a war zone. At sea, Commander Anderson of HMS Daring fights to keep critical supply routes open as Russian warships close in. On the frontlines, Sergeant Johnson and his tank crew face overwhelming odds in a desperate battle for survival. And in the shadows, a traitor at the highest level is pulling the strings, tipping the balance of war.
From the corridors of power to the heart of the battlefield, Article Five is a pulse-pounding geopolitical thriller where loyalty is fragile, alliances are crumbling, and the world is one misstep away from global catastrophe.
Will NATO’s most sacred principle—Article Five—hold? Or has the first domino of World War Three just fallen?
Fans of Tom Clancy, Mark Greaney, and Frederick Forsyth won’t be able to put down this gripping, high-stakes military thriller.
Article Five: A World War Three Novel
Article Five, by J.D. Duncan, is a geopolitical military thriller that kicks off with coordinated attacks and covert sabotage that shove NATO toward its most frightening promise: collective defense. We bounce between the pressure-cooker halls of London, field operations chasing a sleeper agent tied to bombings near St Paul’s tube station, and the widening war footprint stretching to places like Estonia and Moscow. The spine of the plot follows Prime Minister Powell as he tries to hold the line politically and morally while Tony Abbott and John Rafferty chase the human machinery behind the chaos, including Andrew Barker and an injured would-be defector, Gregov Maximov. It all drives toward a tense, exhausted ceasefire and a messy “angry peace,” not a clean victory.
What I liked most is how the book moves. Duncan uses tight point-of-view hops and quick location stamps to keep you aware of the board while still letting you feel the sweat in the room. Powell’s sections especially land for me because they aren’t written like a superhero fantasy. They feel like a person trying to sound steady while everything is shaking, including the uncomfortable reality that allies might hesitate when you need them most. The action scenes are crisp without turning into a tech brochure. There’s a memorable early sequence with a special forces team taking down a Russian helicopter to grab its electronics, and you can almost smell the burning fuel and wet forest in the aftermath. It’s the kind of detail that makes the genre work: specific enough to feel real, but still readable if you don’t speak “military” fluently.
I also appreciated the author’s willingness to sit in the moral grey. The spy stuff isn’t framed as glamorous. It’s transactional, paranoid, and sometimes petty in a relatable way. Rafferty, for example, is funny and sharp, but also tired, cynical, and constantly measuring people for leverage. That energy pairs well with the book’s bigger idea: wars are not only fought with tanks and missiles, but with narratives, timing, and information control. Maximov’s “evidence hidden in plain sight” angle, tucked into something as mundane as a fishing-rod website, is a perfect little metaphor for modern conflict. And Barker’s thread, from coerced bombing logistics to his end, left me cold in the right way. It’s not melodramatic. It’s bleak, brisk, and believable.
I’d recommend Article Five to readers who like their thrillers political, modern, and a little unsettling, the kind that makes you put the book down for a second and think. If your happy place is the Tom Clancy and Brad Thor lane, but you want something with a more current-media pulse (there’s even a nod to BBC coverage and the churn of online commentary), you’ll probably have a good time here. It’s best for people who enjoy big-stakes geopolitics and the smaller, grimy human choices underneath it, and who don’t need a tidy ending to feel satisfied.
Pages: 341 | ASIN : B0FPCZ6V8B
