Enemy of the Future
R.E. Trout
Independently Published (2026)
ISBN: 979-8180710208
Reviewed by Dawn Colclasure for Reader Views (08/2026)
Trip Stewart and his friend, Jayla, have a school project: they must write a paper about someone interesting. They choose Jayla’s father, who works for a pharmaceutical firm. But before they can get started, Trip notices a strange vehicle following Jayla and her father at different times. When Trip tries to follow it at one point, he is knocked off the trail by a black SUV. This only heightens his curiosity. When he and Jayla interview her father for their project, he acts evasive with one question, further getting Trip curious about what could be going on. After he shares his observations with Jayla, she also becomes concerned. The two of them essentially become amateur detectives, doing a bit of investigating while working on their project.
In Enemy of the Future: A Trip Stewart Adventure by R.E. Trout, readers are taken along on a mysterious series of events in the life of a very gifted high school student. The story begins on April 21, then readers are taken back to April 17 in chapter two. This was momentarily confusing, but all is eventually explained in full, making it well worth the initial uncertainty.
During the week when a bunch of strange things happen, Trip is also going through some personal issues, one of them with the school bully, Karl. Karl is a big guy who is used to intimidating the smart kids into doing his homework for him, but when one of them is unable to, and Karl threatens to beat him up, Trip steps in to put a stop to it. I felt this took a tremendous amount of courage, but I also wondered why Trip even stood up to the bully in the first place, when most kids typically don’t get involved. Again, be patient and let this story play out.
Until the ending reveal, the story itself is so mysterious and intriguing that it kept me reading. I wanted to know what happens next, who the mysterious people in the black BMW or black SUV were, and why they were appearing to follow Jayla and her dad. It was hard for this reviewer to stop reading the story because of the desire to find out what happens and what kind of ending this story has. And what a very satisfying ending it was, too.
Trout’s Enemy of the Future is a YA science fiction novel filled with mystery and suspense. It’s also the first book in the A Trip Stewart Adventure series. Many surprises occur in this story, and the big reveal at the end is completely satisfying. Readers who enjoy reading mystery novels as well as science fiction are bound to enjoy reading this one.
At a Glance: A YA science fiction mystery follows a gifted high school student whose class project leads to suspicious vehicles, secretive behavior, and amateur sleuthing. Teen drama and mounting suspense build toward a final revelation that reframes earlier events.
Best for Readers Who Enjoy: YA science fiction, teen mysteries, amateur detectives, school-based adventures, conspiracy suspense, unexpected twists, gifted teen protagonists, mystery thrillers