Zoomers vs Boomers by Sawyer Black

Today’s book review is for Zoomers vs Boomers by Sawyer Black. Read on to find out what I had to say about this very interesting horror novel.

I received this book for free from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

They’re live-streaming for their lives.

When the influencers and live-streamers of Jackson High are selected as the winner of the Operation Gen Z contest, Craig Boucher and his friends can’t believe their luck. Sure, it’s a little awkward that Craig’s ex is on the team – and so is the former best friend who abandoned him for the cool crowd freshman year. But at least Craig’s got his BFF to lean on. And his hundreds of thousands of followers, of course.

The Zoomers think they’ve been chosen to compete in a secret competition to win a million-dollar scholarship. But when they get to the site – the rundown building that used to be the Oakridge Academy, an infamous school shut down after rumors of torture and brainwashing – they discover that they’re pawns in a brutal game of survival.

As they search for a way out of the booby-trapped campus, Craig and his friends are hunted by three fanatical Boomers determined to prove that Generation Z embodies everything that’s wrong with the modern world.

Millions tune in as the live stream goes viral, and the cameras transmit every move to the enemy. As the streamers begin to turn on each other in their attempts to survive, Craig doesn’t know who to trust or how to keep his friends alive. Will they die before uncovering the truth behind this vicious contest?

Zoomers vs Boomers is an intense new stand-alone slasher-horror novel by Sawyer Black. Fans of Squid Game and The Hunt will be thrilled to death by Zoomers vs Boomers.

CW: murder, blood, gore, mentions of racism, bullying, homophobia

We all know I love a good horror novel – but when you pit Gen Z against the “Boomers”, I have to stop and take notice. I’m going to do the usual CAWPILE but I’m not going to detail specific characters because there’s just too many.

Zoomers vs Boomers – Characters

Our characters in Zoomers vs Boomers range from “we are rooting for this guy” to the “please just kill this dude already, seriously, before I jump in and do it for you”. For me, this was not an exaggeration. There were people – on the bad guys’ side – that I was wishing someone would hurry up and just off them so I didn’t have to put up with reading their idiocy anymore.

There were a couple of characters on the “good guys” side that I kind of wanted to die too… just because they were annoying. But they were supposed to be annoying so I suppose… but ugh. All in all the characters did their jobs. They either annoyed the daylights out of you or they made you want to cheer for them. They weren’t particularly well developed, but for the sake of the story, they didn’t need to be. The ones that needed building and development got it, the ones that didn’t, well… didn’t.

Zoomers vs Boomers – Atmosphere

Nothing like a run down, creepy-ass school to be the backdrop for your murder-fest, am I right? The atmosphere was creepy enough, although it seemed to me the depictions were more just gross and dirty than actually creepy. But there were some factors to make it a bit creepier than it seems at first glance. It was a decent atmosphere for the book and didn’t distract from the main story.

Sawyer Black – Writing

Sawyer Black has a great writing style. Zoomers vs Boomers had great pacing – it moved quickly but not too quickly. It doesn’t drag along with unnecessary descriptions of everything but it does give descriptions of what you need to have described to you. The writing was clear and easy to understand, something I’ve noticed some writers are not very good at. Definitely a fan of Sawyer Black’s writing style.

Zoomers vs Boomers – Plot

Ok, so the plot here is pretty great. Taking a bunch of high school students who are addicted to their electronic devices and streaming their lives, having them be the winners of a contest to enter another contest… then having the entire thing be a front for something else? Awesome. But you’ll have to read the book to find out why the entire thing was a front for something else, because I’m not telling you the entire plot. I will say it’s a fairly unique plot and I’m quite happy with it.

Zoomers vs Boomers – Intrigue

So for Zoomers vs Boomers, the intrigue is mostly wondering who is going to make it out of this book alive. I admit, I had a hard time putting the book down because I was so invested in who was going to die and who was going to live. I think it deserves a lot of credit for this.

Zoomers vs Boomers – Logic

I’m going to say it – this book didn’t use a lot of logic, but then again, it’s a horror novel. Exactly how much logic would you expect from a horror novel? Just saying.

Zoomers vs Boomers – Ending

Over all the ending was really good – not great, but really good. We had the big boss fight at the end, but it seemed a bit on the rushed side as it didn’t take long to happen. But maybe I play too many video games where you have to jump through hoops A, B, & C to be able to beat the final boss. I think the “epilogue” was a better ending to the book than the ending of the plot was, but that’s just my opinion.

Conclusion

I definitely recommend Zoomers vs Boomers by Sawyer Black to horror fans and even to people who don’t like horror – this could also be considered a thriller of sorts. If you’re not too squeamish, I’d give it a try.