What do you think?
Rate this book
The Core #3
Breakers: A Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Thriller
They’ve been hunted, tested, betrayed. Now, they’re done playing by the rules.
Deep in the bones of a collapsing America, Ella, Molly, and the others make their final stand against the monstrous machine that turned their lives into experiments. With Consecrators closing in, allies falling, and time running out, they must turn escape into revolution.
As Core-enhanced powers surge beyond control and the truth behind the virus is finally revealed, the girls face a brutal run again—or burn it all down.
This time, they’re not looking for safety.
Deep in the bones of a collapsing America, Ella, Molly, and the others make their final stand against the monstrous machine that turned their lives into experiments. With Consecrators closing in, allies falling, and time running out, they must turn escape into revolution.
As Core-enhanced powers surge beyond control and the truth behind the virus is finally revealed, the girls face a brutal run again—or burn it all down.
This time, they’re not looking for safety.
226 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 28, 2026
About the author
Kayla Frederick
29 books164 followersRaised in Michigan but moved to Texas and has experienced the best and worst of both. Kayla has interests in the dark and macabre. She enjoys '80's music and movies. A little neurotic and a huge lover of Halloween, creepy stories and cats are totally her jam.
To keep up with her, sign up for her newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/cwZHEz
To keep up with her, sign up for her newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/cwZHEz
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
August 30, 2026
💀 ROBIN’S REVIEW: THE AUTOPSY OF BREAKERS
Breakers: A Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Thriller
Kayla Frederick & William Alan Webb
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🪦 THE BODY
By the third book, everyone has officially exceeded their recommended daily allowance of trauma.
Fair.
Breakers opens with the sense that the entire rotten structure holding this world together has finally developed enough cracks that somebody just needs to give it a good shove.
Molly, Ella, and the rest are more than qualified.
🔪 FIRST INCISION
This finale does not waste much time pretending diplomacy is still an option.
That ship sailed, caught fire, sank, and was probably blamed on the women afterward.
The characters have spent two books learning exactly what kind of people they are dealing with, and there is something deeply satisfying about watching that knowledge turn into action.
Nobody is under the illusion that simply staying out of sight will fix anything anymore.
🩸 THE AUTOPSY
What I liked most here is that the story feels like it has actually earned its escalation.
Molly and Ella are not suddenly fearless because the trilogy needs a dramatic ending. Everything they have endured has pushed them toward this point. They are exhausted, furious, changed, and still human enough to question what comes next.
That matters.
The Core itself also becomes much more interesting as the limits surrounding it begin to look considerably less reliable.
Because apparently having invasive technology inside your head was not alarming enough.
Wonderful.
The revelations surrounding the larger catastrophe finally start connecting pieces that have been hanging around since earlier books, and several things I had questions about begin making much more sense.
Of course, learning the truth does absolutely nothing to improve anyone’s mood.
Shocking.
🫀 STILL HAD A PULSE
The pacing stays tight.
There is very little room for wandering because practically everyone is either chasing someone, hiding something, planning something, or discovering that their previous plan has gone spectacularly sideways.
I also appreciated that the supporting characters still matter. This never becomes a story where everybody else turns into background furniture while Molly handles everything herself.
Losses carry weight.
Choices have consequences.
And the victories do not feel free.
That gives the ending much more punch.
🦴 WHAT BROKE
At 231 pages, this is a fairly compact finale for a story carrying this many characters, secrets, factions, and unresolved problems.
There were definitely moments when I wanted the book to linger longer.
Some confrontations could have used more room. A few emotional beats deserved an extra page or two before the next crisis arrived with a folding chair.
The final stretch especially moves fast.
Not confusingly fast, but enough that I occasionally wanted to yell, “Hold on, I am still emotionally processing the last disaster.”
The book did not care.
☠️ CAUSE OF DEATH
Breakers gives this trilogy the kind of ending it needed.
Not tidy.
Not gentle.
Definitely not interested in pretending everybody can simply shake hands afterward and rebuild civilization over coffee.
The series began with people desperately trying to stay alive inside a system designed to control them. By the end, that system has a much bigger problem.
The people it tried to control learned how dangerous they could be.
Across all three books, Molly’s progression is especially satisfying because every stage feels connected to what came before. She does not become someone completely different.
She becomes someone who finally understands exactly what she is willing to fight for.
And apparently the answer is:
A lot.
Breakers is tense, angry, destructive, and appropriately chaotic for a finale about people who have run completely out of patience.
The Core trilogy started with people trying to get away.
It ends with somebody finally making the people responsible wish they had let them.
Recommended for readers who enjoy dystopian finales, dangerous secrets, evolving abilities, ugly moral choices, found family, resistance stories, and watching terrible people discover they have severely underestimated their victims.
Book Series:
Runners: A Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Thriller (The Core)
Book 1 of 3: The Core
Hunters: The Core Book 2
Book 2 of 3: The Core
Breakers: A Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Thriller (The Core)
Book 3 of 3: The Core
Reviewed by Robin for Robin’s Review
Breakers: A Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Thriller
Kayla Frederick & William Alan Webb
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🪦 THE BODY
By the third book, everyone has officially exceeded their recommended daily allowance of trauma.
Fair.
Breakers opens with the sense that the entire rotten structure holding this world together has finally developed enough cracks that somebody just needs to give it a good shove.
Molly, Ella, and the rest are more than qualified.
🔪 FIRST INCISION
This finale does not waste much time pretending diplomacy is still an option.
That ship sailed, caught fire, sank, and was probably blamed on the women afterward.
The characters have spent two books learning exactly what kind of people they are dealing with, and there is something deeply satisfying about watching that knowledge turn into action.
Nobody is under the illusion that simply staying out of sight will fix anything anymore.
🩸 THE AUTOPSY
What I liked most here is that the story feels like it has actually earned its escalation.
Molly and Ella are not suddenly fearless because the trilogy needs a dramatic ending. Everything they have endured has pushed them toward this point. They are exhausted, furious, changed, and still human enough to question what comes next.
That matters.
The Core itself also becomes much more interesting as the limits surrounding it begin to look considerably less reliable.
Because apparently having invasive technology inside your head was not alarming enough.
Wonderful.
The revelations surrounding the larger catastrophe finally start connecting pieces that have been hanging around since earlier books, and several things I had questions about begin making much more sense.
Of course, learning the truth does absolutely nothing to improve anyone’s mood.
Shocking.
🫀 STILL HAD A PULSE
The pacing stays tight.
There is very little room for wandering because practically everyone is either chasing someone, hiding something, planning something, or discovering that their previous plan has gone spectacularly sideways.
I also appreciated that the supporting characters still matter. This never becomes a story where everybody else turns into background furniture while Molly handles everything herself.
Losses carry weight.
Choices have consequences.
And the victories do not feel free.
That gives the ending much more punch.
🦴 WHAT BROKE
At 231 pages, this is a fairly compact finale for a story carrying this many characters, secrets, factions, and unresolved problems.
There were definitely moments when I wanted the book to linger longer.
Some confrontations could have used more room. A few emotional beats deserved an extra page or two before the next crisis arrived with a folding chair.
The final stretch especially moves fast.
Not confusingly fast, but enough that I occasionally wanted to yell, “Hold on, I am still emotionally processing the last disaster.”
The book did not care.
☠️ CAUSE OF DEATH
Breakers gives this trilogy the kind of ending it needed.
Not tidy.
Not gentle.
Definitely not interested in pretending everybody can simply shake hands afterward and rebuild civilization over coffee.
The series began with people desperately trying to stay alive inside a system designed to control them. By the end, that system has a much bigger problem.
The people it tried to control learned how dangerous they could be.
Across all three books, Molly’s progression is especially satisfying because every stage feels connected to what came before. She does not become someone completely different.
She becomes someone who finally understands exactly what she is willing to fight for.
And apparently the answer is:
A lot.
Breakers is tense, angry, destructive, and appropriately chaotic for a finale about people who have run completely out of patience.
The Core trilogy started with people trying to get away.
It ends with somebody finally making the people responsible wish they had let them.
Recommended for readers who enjoy dystopian finales, dangerous secrets, evolving abilities, ugly moral choices, found family, resistance stories, and watching terrible people discover they have severely underestimated their victims.
Book Series:
Runners: A Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Thriller (The Core)
Book 1 of 3: The Core
Hunters: The Core Book 2
Book 2 of 3: The Core
Breakers: A Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Thriller (The Core)
Book 3 of 3: The Core
Reviewed by Robin for Robin’s Review
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review