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Heightened Stakes
Enemy of the Future follows a high school teen with the ability to time travel who is pulled into a conspiracy involving a deadly virus, and he needs to alter the past before there are global consequences. What was the original inspiration for your story and the Trip Stewart Adventure series?
I’ve always been intrigued by and drawn to stories and movies about time travel. As a result, when I gathered the courage to attempt to write a book, I wanted to involve the concept of time travel but approach it in a different way. I didn’t want it to be focused on the science fiction part because I wanted the lead character to be more of an everyday teenager facing normal school and social problems who stumbles across a global conspiracy.
The conspiracy involving a deadly virus came from my 20-plus years working in the pharmaceutical industry. With my science background, I thought utilizing something I had a lot of experience with was a comfortable way to approach my first book.
Focusing on a passion of mine and using my experience led me to Trip’s first adventure.
Trip begins the story wanting to remain largely unnoticed. What interested you about making a reluctant, socially uncertain teenager the hero of the series, and how did you develop Trip’s personality separately from his unusual abilities?
What drew me to create a character that was reluctant and socially uncertain was watching my daughter, who recently graduated college, grow up and go through the self-doubt and uncertainty of high school (and college). Her journey reminded me of how self-conscious and awkward I was in high school. There is so much pressure on teens in today’s world. Not only do they feel the constant pressure of making decisions that could have major impacts on their futures, but the social part of their lives is also fraught with anxiety, doubt, depression, etc.
I think a lot of Trip’s personality, if I’m totally honest, is derived from my own. I was on the shy side growing up and preferred to remain off the radar as much as possible. I was an “A”-student and a jock, so I struggled to fit into either group, similar to Trip. Like Trip, I struggled to find my place. In addition to drawing from my own personality, I knew his special ability would affect his personality. I didn’t want it to define him, but I also didn’t want to dismiss its impact. What he has experienced and dealt with in his formative years would obviously influence his personality and how he approaches people. Because he is unique, I wanted to bring attention to his feelings of loneliness and his propensity to distance himself from others. While he does isolate himself due to his ability, this is like many teenagers who, even though they interact with their friends and family, often feel alone. I’d like to think that by the end of the book, he starts to realize that having friends you can trust to share the load with is important.
The story balances school, friendships, romance, humor, and potentially world-changing danger. How important was that mixture of ordinary and extraordinary life?
I wanted Trip to be a normal teenager facing normal, everyday problems. Being partnered with his crush, facing off against the school bully, and hanging out with his best friend were ways to keep the story grounded. Even though Trip is uncertain of how he fits in his high school, not to mention the world in general, he’s surrounded by other teenagers who are dealing with similar problems. And despite his desire to seclude and distance himself, he can’t help but get pulled into the relationship drama, the crushes, and the geek-out moments with his best friend. Having that sense of normalcy allows the heightened stakes involving the deadly virus to stand out even more. Intermixing Trip’s everyday school obligations with the conspiracy helps propel the story forward. With the elements of Trip’s normal life being influenced by his extraordinary life, it forces him to make difficult choices and decisions that could have a significant impact on both. In the end, I wanted the reader to feel like the things happening to Trip could be happening to them.
Without giving too much away, what can readers expect as Trip and Jayla’s adventures continue?
In Trip and Jayla’s next adventure, Countdown to Homecoming, the two find themselves trying to figure out who set off an explosion at the Homecoming dance. The story continues to explore Trip and Jayla’s relationship while they navigate the ups and downs of Homecoming week. The book also explores Trip’s struggles to balance his expanding social life and his special ability.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
A jealous boyfriend. A school bully. And a shocking discovery—a conspiracy involving a deadly virus.
Suddenly Trip is the only one standing between a hidden threat and a global catastrophe.
High school was supposed to be hard… just not end‑of‑the‑world hard.
Enemy of the Future
Enemy of the Future by R.E. Trout is a fast-moving young adult science fiction thriller that blends time travel, biological danger, high school drama, and action-adventure mystery. The first book in the Trip Stewart Adventure series opens with Trip and his classmate Jayla trapped inside a pharmaceutical laboratory during an armed attack, then rewinds several days to reveal how an ordinary school project led them into the crisis. That opening gives the story immediate urgency, while the earlier timeline builds a web of suspicious cars, unexplained disease outbreaks, secret research, and adults who may be hiding more than they admit.
Trip makes an appealing lead for this YA sci-fi adventure because he feels like a teenager before he feels like a hero. He’s smart, observant, socially uncertain, and still grieving his grandfather, but he also has an instinct for stepping in when someone’s in danger. His developing friendship with Jayla gives the book plenty of warmth and humor between the suspenseful scenes. Their conversations, school pressures, awkward romantic moments, and shared detective work keep the speculative premise grounded in a recognizable coming-of-age story.
The time-bending element adds the book’s most intriguing layer. Trip gradually reveals that he can return to an earlier point when someone dies before their time, carrying his memories into a new version of events. That ability turns the time travel mystery thriller into more than a race to expose a conspiracy. Each choice carries emotional weight because Trip remembers outcomes that everyone else has forgotten. Trout uses that idea to explore courage, responsibility, grief, and the pressure of knowing what may happen while still having to improvise when events begin changing.
The final stretch delivers the full energy promised by the opening, with a pharmaceutical symposium, a stolen virus, armed intruders, betrayals, laboratory escapes, and Trip trying to keep Jayla and her father alive. The scientific setting gives this biotech conspiracy thriller a distinct identity, and the combination of teen relationships, speculative powers, and cinematic action makes the story easy to picture as it unfolds. Enemy of the Future works as a complete adventure while leaving Trip and Jayla with a compelling new partnership, a dangerous secret, and plenty of possibilities for the rest of the series.
Pages: 319 | ASIN : B0GZVJ5CYJ
