"Never" finally came in at the library.
Just finished it - very gripping, chillingly plausible.
I had read Follett's "Fall Of Giants" a few years ago, and found his explanation of how the European powers blundered into war in 1914 excellent.
In the forward to "Never", the author says the idea was to write a modern-day equivalent. Mission accomplished.
You might enjoy Stephen Hunter's cold war novel "The Day Before Midnight".