Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine has cemented the reputation of Leslie Watkins as an author who predicts the future. His 1978 best-seller Alternative 3, possibly the most plagiarised novel of the past 50 years, showed climate changes making this planet untenable. 'Suitable' people were taken to Mars to save the human race from extinction. That evacuation is being planned today.

In 1978 Watkins also published The Unexploded Man, another 'in-the-future book' showing world peace being threatened by Russia. The similarities to Putin's new war, including him putting Russia's nuclear might on high alert, are astonishing. Nearly half a century ago Watkins visualised a top Kremlin official outline a decision to attack smaller nearby states including the UK. Now, as the death-toll soars in Ukraine, Putin has warned other countries daring to interfere of 'consequences you have never seen'.

Watkins' fictional Kremlin man, Sokolov, takes the same line - sneering at a suggestion of the Americans responding in kind. They would fear Russia might escalate any nuclear war. He tells a subordinate: "Knowing there would be instant retaliation against Washington and New York? Never!." And similarly, Britain and France would also not act.

This is a different kind of war . . . a new cold war . . . where there is no front line, no rules of engagement and more treachery than ever imagined.

"If elected I will never, under any circumstances, use a nuclear weapon," promises the leader of the British Opposition and the people love him for it.

One person, journalist David Barnett, is a pawn, an unwilling victim of Russia's evil plan to win the peace . . . the key to what is going on. Barnett is The Unexploded Man.

Grimly topical ... Watkins writes tightly and tautly and his background has an all too authentic ring to it. Manchester Evening News.

Daily Record : Good suspense stuff. Daily Record.

A dazzling piece of narrative writing. Daily Mail.

A highly readable political thriller that is streets ahead of its competition by having that essential ingredient - style. Liverpool Daily Post.

A chilling story of the cold war. Daily Telegraph.

The basic plot and the action scenes could be turned into a fine dramatic film, in the hands of the right producer. Weekender USA.

Masterminding by the author keeps the pay-off a surprise right up to the end. Publishers' Weekly.

An imaginative fast-moving suspense tale that never loses its grip on the reader. Mineapolis Tribune.

Powerful writing here. Southern Evening Echo.