Book Review: The Enemy Within by Scott Burn

Official Synopsis from Goodreads: Seventeen-year-old Max has always felt like an outsider. When the agonizing apocalyptic visions begin, he decides suicide is his only escape. He soon finds himself in an institution under the guidance of a therapist who sees something exceptional in him. Just as he begins to leave the hallucinations behind, Max discovers the visions weren’t just in his head.

There are three others who have shared those same thoughts and they’ve been searching for Max. Like him, they are something more than human. Each of them possesses certain abilities, which they’re going to need when a covert military group begins hunting them down.

As the danger escalates, Max doesn’t know which side to trust. But in the end, his choice will decide the fate of both species.

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Setting: Portland, Oregon

**I received a copy of The Enemy Within from the author in exchange for an honest review.**

Review: A great little science fiction book that is a fast read, and has no filler whatsoever. It was very refreshing to read!

The Enemy Within by Scott Burn has an interesting premise. Young Max has been getting visions, and ends up in an institution. It turns out that Max is not the only one receiving these visions, and finds several others like him, all age seventeen. That is about all I’m going to say about the plot of this book, as the book is fairly short (Goodreads has it at 161 pages long), and the plot moves very quickly.

I really enjoyed The Enemy Within. One of my reading goals for the year is to read more science fiction books, and so I was happy to accept this book from the author for review. I haven’t read a whole lot of science fiction, so I can’t compare it to other books in the genre, but I thought this was a smart, fast-paced adventure, full of twists and turns.

I really liked the main character, Max. Since the book is so short, there isn’t a lot of time to build the character, but Scott Burn did a great job here in introducing to us who Max is, and why we should care about him. Max was a bit different of a character in that he weighs his actions before acting. I can’t recall a young adult character stopping to ponder the bigger issue in a fast-paced action book prior to this. I really loved this aspect of his personality, and thought it was very smart. So many times authors just have characters do something without thinking it through, and I liked the reality of Max’s decisions being mentioned.

As I mentioned earlier, this is a very fast read. I read this in one evening, and I wanted more as soon as I finished it! There is zero filler in the book, and this was so refreshing to read. The author could’ve easily added a lot more to the book, and to the various characters, but all that would’ve been unnecessary. I really appreciated the “stripped down” plot and characters. It made for a fast-paced easy read that I think a lot of people will enjoy. The way the book ends will have you hoping that there is a second book!

A big thanks goes to the author, Scott Burn, for providing a copy of the book for me to review.

Bottom Line: A great, fast-paced science fiction adventure!