From chillers to murder mysteries, these thrilling audiobooks will get your pulse racing.
By Brandon Miller
Looking for an edge-of-your-seat listening experience? Thriller audiobooks offer hours of heart-pounding suspense – and they’re ready to thrill you with the simple click of a button. So grab your favorite headphones and dim the lights. Here are nine thriller audiobooks that you need to hear.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, narrated by Jack Hawkins and Louise Brealey. 8 hours, 43 minutes.
In his #1 New York Times bestseller, Alex Michaelides introduces us to Alicia Berenson. Alicia is a successful painter living in a high-end London neighborhood. She leads what seems to be a perfect life. Then one night, she shoots her fashion-photographer husband in the face and refuses to say another word. Alicia may now be silent, but this sophisticated thriller resonates loud and clear, as a criminal psychologist is determined to uncover the truth about what happened that bloody night. Released in 2019, The Silent Patient was Michaelides’s debut novel. His newest thriller, The Maidens, comes out this June.
The Whisper Man by Alex North, narrated by Christopher Eccleston. 9 hours and 28 minutes.
From Alex North, author of The Shadows, The Whisper Man is a startling horror thriller — which is exactly why we love it. This New York Times bestseller has everything you want in a thrilling narrative: a creepy small-town setting, a complicated family relationship, a disappearance, and a menacing serial killer who whispers to his victims through their windows at night. If you love being terrified — and hopefully have locks on all your windows — then queue up this audiobook ASAP.
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell, narrated by Helen Duff. 10 hours and 12 minutes.
Bestselling author Lisa Jewell delivers a beguiling mystery in Then She Was Gone. The novel follows a mother whose teenage daughter goes missing. Years later, she meets a man whose own daughter looks eerily like the one she lost. Suspenseful and a little bit disturbing, this audiobook will keep you riveted from the moment you press play.
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager, narrated by Nicol Zanzarella. 12 hours and 13 minutes.
Riley Sager, bestselling author of Lock Every Door and Final Girls, hit the New York Times bestseller list with this 2018 release. The Last Time I Lied centers on Emma Davis, a young woman who returns to the creepy summer camp of her youth. Fifteen years ago, Emma attended Camp Nightingale – where she was the last to see a handful of campers sneak out of their bunks and vanish into the night. The secrets of the past collide with present-day threats to make this an electrifying listen for any thriller fan.
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware, narrated by Imogen Church. 12 hours and 13 minutes.
The Turn of the Key is our favorite gem from famed thriller writer Ruth Ware, the bestselling author behind works like The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Lying Game. In this 2019 story, Ware explores the dark side of technology through the eyes of a nanny named Rowan Caine. At first Rowen loves her new job as a live-in nanny at Heatherbrae House: The family is picture-perfect and the “smart” home is outfitted with the latest gadgets. But things take a sinister turn when a child winds up dead and Rowan is accused of murder.
The Chain by Adrian McKinty, narrated by January LaVoy. 10 hours and 9 minutes.
In this award-winning thriller from Adrian McKinty, a mother is tasked with committing a crime in order to save her kidnapped daughter’s life. The crime? Kidnap another child — after paying a hefty ransom, of course. The person demanding the kidnapping? The mother of yet another kidnapped child. You see the cruel victim–perpetrator chain now, don’t you? This audiobook will leave you captivated… and also a little terrified.
The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda, narrated by Rebekkah Ross. 9 hours and 57 minutes.
The Girl from Widow Hills is the latest thrilling release from Megan Miranda, bestselling author of the wildly popular The Last House Guest. It follows Arden Maynor — yes, the girl from Widow Hills. One night young Arden is sleepwalking and gets swept away by a torrential rainstorm. She remained missing for days, yet despite all odds, she was found alive. Her survival story catapulted her to worldwide notoriety. Twenty years later – with a new name and a new life – she starts sleepwalking again and wakes up to find a corpse at her feet. This is one unnerving and truly imaginative thriller.
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James, narrated by Brittany Pressley and Kirsten Potter. 11 hours.
Simone St. James is an award-winning author of multiple thrilling tales. Her latest, the bestselling The Sun Down Motel, will not disappoint fans of a good (and chilling) mystery. It follows Carly Kirk, a young woman obsessed with the case of the disappearance of her aunt Viv. Carly wasn’t even born when her aunt vanished without a trace from the Sun Down Motel, yet she can’t get the disappearance out of her mind. Naturally, Carly takes a trip to Upstate New York to visit the sinister motel. Thirty-five years have passed, but something is still off. What is it?
Recursion by Blake Crouch, narrated by Jon Lindstrom and Abby Craden. 10 hours and 47 minutes.
Simone St. James is an award-winning author of multiple thrilling tales. Her latest, the bestselling The Sun Down Motel, will not disappoint fans of a good (and chilling) mystery. It follows Carly Kirk, a young woman obsessed with the case of the disappearance of her aunt Viv. Carly wasn’t even born when her aunt vanished without a trace from the Sun Down Motel, yet she can’t get the disappearance out of her mind. Naturally, Carly takes a trip to Upstate New York to visit the sinister motel. Thirty-five years have passed, but something is still off. What is it?
On the hunt for more captivating listens? Check out our roundup of the best true crime audiobooks, the best scary audiobooks, and the best audiobooks of 2020.
