Let’s check out 12 of the best Thriller audiobooks I can wholeheartedly recommend to you!
Are you ready to dive into suspenseful stories brought to life by voice actors whose emotional narration will take your breath away?
Step with me into the world of the best Thriller audiobooks, where every whispered word and tense pause draws you in further.
These audio gems not only deliver spine-tingling narratives full of mystery and intrigue, they also wield the power of masterful storytelling and compelling narration.
Whether you’re a seasoned audiobook fan or a newcomer to the genre or book format, these thrilling tales will captivate and enthrall you from the very first word with their sheer intensity!
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Perfectly Nice Neighbors
Kia Abdullah (Author), Tania Rodrigues (Narrator)
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Kia Abdullah writes absolutely addictive Thrillers that force you to think about uncomfortable things and won’t let you jump to easy and convenient conclusions.
In Perfectly Nice Neighbors, a husband, wife, and their son from Bangladesh move into a nice, polished English suburb. But soon, they notice little acts of aggression around their house, and the wife, Salma, is convinced that the next-door neighbor is to blame.
Things spiral completely out of control until someone gets seriously hurt!
The book moves from a domestic Thriller to a legal Thriller as secrets come to light bit by bit.
Tania Rodrigues did a breathtakingly good narration of Salma and everything she’s going through. This is, without a doubt, one of the best Thriller audiobooks and I can’t recommend Kia Abdullah books enough to you!
Related article: The Best Audiobooks of 2023
Base Notes
Lara Elena Donnelly (Author), Avi Roque (Narrator)
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Base Notes is an utterly compelling crime story with a main character who gives you nothing.
If you loved Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, you’ll adore the nods Base Notes makes to it.
I found Vic an oddly charming character, even though Vic is, without a doubt, a very disturbed serial killer who turns people into perfume.
There were quite a few parts of the book that I did try not to picture in my head because I like to be able to sleep at night, thank you very much.
One thing I found particularly fascinating about this book was that neither the blurb nor the entire book ever uses a pronoun for Vic. The main character is never gendered.
Base Notes is honestly a work of art in how it’s written and constructed, and I absolutely loved it!
Avi Roque did an utterly captivating narration and their voice perfectly brings out the ambiguousness of Vic. For me, this is one of the best Thriller audiobooks and a book I couldn’t quite get out of my head again.
Killing Me
Michelle Gagnon (Author), Jaime Lamchick (Narrator)
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Killing Me is such an incredibly cool book! I devoured it, and it was very difficult to move on from this wonderful fast pace and the extremely engaging characters.
Amber is kidnapped by a serial killer. She was sure something like this would never happen to someone like her. But here we are.
However, at the last moment, she is saved by a weird person in a ski mask. From then on, things spiral quickly for Amber, who has a criminal history of her own and can’t afford to be part of an investigation.
I adored Amber and her big mouth! And the author perfectly feeds you one tidbit at a time about Amber’s past and the forces at play in her current situation.
This book made me laugh, but it also has a lot of suspense that had me sitting on the edge of my seat. Jaime Lamchick’s narration brought out all the facets of Amber, and this is one of the most entertaining crime Thriller audiobooks you can get!
I’m Not Done with You Yet
Jesse Q. Sutanto (Author), Yu-Li Alice Shen (Narrator), Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator), Leiana Bertrand (Narrator), Eunice Wong (Narrator)
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I’m such a fan of Jesse Q. Sutanto! I adore her Cozy Mystery books, but with I’m Not Done with You Yet, she also wrote an extremely gripping Psychological Thriller novel.
This book had me hooked for the entire duration. Jane cracked me up several times, and I loved the narration by Eunice Wong. I adore her voice, and she so dryly presented Jane’s rather violent thoughts.
Jane is a fairly unsuccessful midlist LitFic author. She has a publisher, but her books don’t earn out, and the size of her advances make her writing more of a hobby than an actual occupation.
She hates her husband and their life together, and Jane is really, really angry. All the time. She also believes that she is a “sociopath”.
Then she has the opportunity to meet with the woman who was her best friend in grad school – a woman Jane was completely and creepily obsessed with!
While Jane herself kept me hooked quite well, I did not see the twists and turns coming. There are some serious revelations coming your way later on in the book. And the ending was a whole thing of its own!
There Should Have Been Eight
Nalini Singh (Author), Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator)
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There Should Have Been Eight by Nalini Singh is a creepy this-almost-feels-like-haunted-house-horror Thriller novel that took my breath away!
Saskia Maarleveld did an excellent job at making Luna likable and relatable – to an extent.
Because this book is full of mystery and intrigue! And it won’t give you moments to relax and “feel safe”.
Are all these horrible incidents and accidents caused by an unknown intruder in the old mansion? Or is one of the eight friends the culprit? Is Luna’s obsession with Bea really a normal form of love? Who can you trust?
Save this list with great Thriller audiobooks for later:
Shutter
Ramona Emerson (Author), Charley Flyte (Narrator)
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Shutter by Ramona Emerson is a breathtakingly good paranormal Thriller. The audio version is read by Charley Flyte who brings the creepy atmosphere of this book out perfectly.
Rita is Navajo and works as a forensic photographer. She can see the ghosts of the dead people at the crime scenes she covers. And they know that she can see them!
Again and again, they try to get Rita to find out what happened to them or to bring messages to family members.
Rita has to navigate the horrors she can see, the way ghosts try to influence her life, and her own isolation from her family, while trying to solve a crime that might be way bigger than she had thought.
The Method
James Patterson (Author), Michael B. Silver (Author), Zachary Quinto (Narrator), Stephanie Beatriz (Narrator) and a full cast
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The Method is one of my favorite Audible Plus books! It’s an audio play written by James Patterson and narrated by Zachary Quinto and Stephanie Beatriz, supported by a full cast.
Actor Brent Quill wants to prepare for the role of a serial killer. He aims to fully immerse himself in the character, so he shadows cops who are investigating… a series of murders.
Zachary Quinto is an amazing voice actor and did such an intense and creepy narration for Brent. The audio production is truly excellent, and this is a must-listen for my fellow Thriller fans!
Related article: The Best Audible Originals to download now!
Goodnight Beautiful
Aimee Molloy (Author), Val Toomey (Narrator), George Newbern (Narrator), Marin Ireland (Narrator), Joel Froomkin (Narrator)
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An excellent cast of voice actors brings this psychological Thriller full of twists and turns to life!
Sam is living the dream when he can buy a beautiful house with his wife and start to offer therapy in his own practice in the house.
The couple also gets to know their sweet and nice neighbor. Such a good man!
At the end of Goodnight Beautiful, everything falls into place perfectly. But until then, you are in for a wild ride!
First Lie Wins
Ashley Elston (Author), Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator)
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I adored the twisty, fast-paced mystery in First Lie Wins!
Our heroine seems to live a charming life with her boyfriend. But she is actually an agent, and everything’s just a front to provide her boss with secret information about her “boyfriend’s” business.
But things start crumbling around our heroine as she increasingly feels like her boss is trying to take her down.
A cat-and-mouse game develops in which it becomes less and less clear who is running from whom.
This is just about the perfect Thriller recommendation for my fellow Romance readers! And Saskia Maarleveld brings out all of our main character’s badassness, as well as her thoughts and feelings.
Hunting Game
Candice Fox (Author), Krysten Ritter (Narrator), Anthony Mackie (Narrator), and a full cast
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Hunting Game is an incredibly gripping audio play with the amazing Krysten Ritter and Anthony Mackie.
At the center is the case of a kidnapped child. But with the kid’s father being a very ruthless pharma CEO, and the detective’s own child being chronically ill, things get messy quickly.
I loved the intricacies in this story, the many shades of grey between the black and white, trying to guess who would be willing to break the rules and who would stick to them.
The audio production is, of course, top-notch, as we’ve come to expect from Audible Originals. But Hunting Game also has a well-written story that will pull crime Thriller and Police Procedural fans right in!
#Crimetime
Jeneva Rose (Author), Drew Pyne (Author), Abelardo Campuzano (Narrator), Jennifer Damiano (Narrator), and a full cast
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As you now know, I’m a sucker for a good audio play!
#Crimetime is a super fun full-cast production (and not an Audible Original this time).
Nadiya lives with her half-brother, who found her through an online ancestry test. She tells him that he should stay away from their father.
Chase tries to reach online fame and uploads a video of what he suspects might be a crime scene.
Then horrible things start happening around them, and Nadiya and Chase must flee. And the safest place to go… is their criminal father’s secret safe house.
Wander in the Dark
Jumata Emill (Author), Kevin R. Free (Narrator), Nile Bullock (Narrator)
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Release date: January 30
In Thriller audiobooks, you often meet protagonists who are compelling but not likable, or who you keep emotional distance from because they just don’t feel trustworthy enough.
Amir and Marcel are different! The two brothers are actually lovable. Of course, Nile Bullock’s and Kevin R. Free’s wonderful voices help to enthrall you and draw you right in.
This is a book about racism and classism. A rich white girl is stabbed. A camera shows Amir, who is “from the wrong side of town”, leaving the house. But Marcel, Amir’s rich half-brother, is convinced that Amir is innocent.
This is also a book about family. The brothers’ father has become very successful after leaving Amir’s mother and marrying another woman. Amir feels there is no place for him in the new, big house. But Marcel has always admired his older brother and wants nothing more than to fix what was broken.
The crime and its aftermath don’t leave anyone in this family untouched. And they all have to confront what has happened together, as people start to blame the entire family.
If you are looking for a compelling Thriller audiobook full of suspense, mystery, and intrigue, that keeps you guessing, Wander in the Dark is a must-listen!
If you are looking for more info on how to make your audiobooks more affordable and listen to as many Thrillers as you want, check out my comparison of the best audiobook services that is based on how many books you listen to.
Eline Blackman (pronouns: she/they) fell in love with books as a child – with being read to and reading herself. 10 years ago, she bought her first Audible book. It was love at first listen! An average of 250 audiobooks per year has become the new normal and you will rarely see Eline without a wireless earbud. Romance and Fantasy are the go-to genres for this audiobook fan.