Where to Start with Stephen King
- Best entry point → The Shining
- Best standalone → The Stand
- Start the Holly Gibney series → The Outsider
- Short listen, big payoff → Carrie
- Underrated but highly rated → Billy Summers
- What fans keep coming back to → It
- Highest rated by listeners → Pet Sematary
- 1
The Shining
The Shining • Book 1
by Stephen King
Narrated by Campbell Scott
★ 4.93 ABR Score (1.8M ratings)★ 4.28 Goodreads (1.7M) ★ 4.75 Audible (41.5K)15h 50m listening time • Released 2012King's most psychologically terrifying novel — a haunted hotel, a disintegrating father, and a little boy whose gift is his greatest danger.
- 2
The Stand
by Stephen King
Narrated by Grover Gardner
★ 4.91 ABR Score (922.6K ratings)★ 4.35 Goodreads (841.5K) ★ 4.69 Audible (81.1K)47h 47m listening time • Released 2012King's apocalyptic magnum opus pits good against evil across a ravaged America — sprawling, terrifying, and peopled with characters you'll never forget.
- 3
It
by Stephen King
Narrated by Steven Weber
★ 4.90 ABR Score (1.3M ratings)★ 4.24 Goodreads (1.3M) ★ 4.72 Audible (64.9K)44h 55m listening time • Released 2016Steven Weber's voice work transforms King's sprawling epic into something genuinely hypnotic—he doesn't just narrate the terror, he embodies the friendship that makes you care about it. Nearly 45 hours that feel essential.
- 4
Pet Sematary
by Stephen King
Narrated by Michael C. Hall
★ 4.82 ABR Score (738.4K ratings)★ 4.08 Goodreads (708.6K) ★ 4.77 Audible (29.8K)15h 41m listening time • Released 2018 - 5
Doctor Sleep
The Shining • Book 2
by Stephen King
Narrated by Will Patton
★ 4.75 ABR Score (340.3K ratings)★ 4.13 Goodreads (300.4K) ★ 4.68 Audible (40.0K)18h 34m listening time • Released 2013 - 6
Misery
by Stephen King
Narrated by Lindsay Crouse
★ 4.73 ABR Score (859.0K ratings)★ 4.23 Goodreads (847.7K) ★ 4.76 Audible (11.3K)12h 11m listening time • Released 2016King's most intimate horror — a writer held captive by his 'number one fan' is a story about creativity, survival, and the dangerous power of an audience.
- 7
The Institute
by Stephen King
Narrated by Santino Fontana
★ 4.67 ABR Score (397.8K ratings)★ 4.19 Goodreads (347.4K) ★ 4.63 Audible (50.4K)18h 59m listening time • Released 2019 - 8
Billy Summers
by Stephen King
Narrated by Paul Sparks
★ 4.66 ABR Score (229.3K ratings)★ 4.18 Goodreads (195.3K) ★ 4.66 Audible (33.9K)16h 57m listening time • Released 2021 - 9
Salem's Lot
by Stephen King
Narrated by Ron McLarty, Joe Hill
★ 4.65 ABR Score (695.6K ratings)★ 4.1 Goodreads (667.2K) ★ 4.58 Audible (28.4K)17h 37m listening time • Released 2012 - 10
11/22/63
by Stephen King
Narrated by Craig Wasson
★ 4.63 ABR Score (740.9K ratings)★ 4.35 Goodreads (667.2K) ★ 4.66 Audible (73.7K)30h 40m listening time • Released 2011Craig Wasson's performance transforms King's sprawling time-travel epic into something intimate and devastating—30 hours that feel essential, not excessive.
- 11
The Dark Tower I-III Boxed Set
The Dark Tower #1-3 • Book 3
by Stephen King
Narrated by Frank Muller
★ 4.63 ABR Score (34.1K ratings)★ 4.46 Goodreads (8.6K) ★ 4.84 Audible (25.5K)18h 14m listening time • Released 2016 - 12
Christine
by Stephen King, Marie Milpois
Narrated by Holter Graham
★ 4.58 ABR Score (271.2K ratings)★ 3.86 Goodreads (265.6K) ★ 4.74 Audible (5.6K)19h 35m listening time • Released 2016 - 13
The Outsider
Holly Gibney • Book 1
by Stephen King
Narrated by Will Patton
★ 4.57 ABR Score (451.2K ratings)★ 4.02 Goodreads (386.6K) ★ 4.57 Audible (64.6K)18h 41m listening time • Released 2018 - 14
Carrie
by Stephen King
Narrated by Sissy Spacek, Margaret Atwood
★ 4.54 ABR Score (864.9K ratings)★ 3.99 Goodreads (856.4K) ★ 4.57 Audible (8.4K)7h 46m listening time • Released 2012 - 15
![[Dolores Claiborne] [By: King, Stephen] [July, 2011] cover](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41DBLHMxHAL._SL500_.jpg)
[Dolores Claiborne] [By: King, Stephen] [July, 2011]
by Stephen King
Narrated by Frances Sternhagen
★ 4.54 ABR Score (177.3K ratings)★ 3.95 Goodreads (172.3K) ★ 4.77 Audible (5.0K)9h 15m listening time • Released 2016 - 16
If It Bleeds
Holly Gibney • Book 2
by Stephen King
Narrated by Will Patton, Danny Burstein, Steven Weber
★ 4.53 ABR Score (147.0K ratings)★ 3.97 Goodreads (129.6K) ★ 4.58 Audible (17.4K)15h 12m listening time • Released 2020 - 17
The Body
by Robin Waterfield, Stephen King
Narrated by Wil Wheaton
★ 4.52 ABR Score (45.7K ratings)★ 4.3 Goodreads (45.7K)6h 38m listening time • Released 2026Wil Wheaton's narration captures the raw nostalgia and heartbreak of King's coming-of-age masterpiece so perfectly you'll forget you're listening. This one hits different as an audiobook.
- 18
Needful Things
by Stephen King
Narrated by Stephen King
★ 4.52 ABR Score (293.5K ratings)★ 3.98 Goodreads (281.4K) ★ 4.56 Audible (12.1K)25h 11m listening time • Released 2016 - 19
Wolves of the Calla
The Dark Tower • Book 5
by Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson
Narrated by George Guidall
★ 4.47 ABR Score (221.1K ratings)★ 4.2 Goodreads (203.6K) ★ 4.7 Audible (17.5K)26h 20m listening time • Released 2003George Guidall's performance transforms King's most ambitious Dark Tower installment into pure immersion—his voice captures every shade of dread and desperation across 26 hours that feel essential rather than excessive.
- 20
The Mist
Skeleton Crew • Book 1
by Stephen King
Narrated by Will Patton
★ 4.44 ABR Score (187.6K ratings)★ 3.93 Goodreads (183.8K) ★ 4.58 Audible (3.8K)5h 19m listening time • Released 2017 - 21
The Gunslinger
The Dark Tower • Book 1
by Stephen King
Narrated by George Guidall
★ 4.43 ABR Score (692.5K ratings)★ 3.91 Goodreads (668.4K) ★ 4.75 Audible (24.1K)28h 50m listening time • Released 2004George Guidall's weathered drawl transforms King's western-noir odyssey into pure atmospheric immersion—every dusty town and moral standoff lands harder when delivered by a voice born for moral ambiguity.
- 22
Full Dark, No Stars
by Stephen King
Narrated by Craig Wasson, Jessica Hecht
★ 4.38 ABR Score (127.9K ratings)★ 4.09 Goodreads (118.6K) ★ 4.4 Audible (9.3K)14h 55m listening time • Released 2010 - 23
Everything's Eventual
by Stephen King
Narrated by Becky Ann Baker, John Cullum, Boyd Gaines, Peter Gerety, Josh Hamilton, Arliss Howard, Judith Ivey, Stephen King, Justin Long, Oliver Platt, Jay O. Sanders
★ 4.37 ABR Score (114.0K ratings)★ 3.97 Goodreads (109.6K) ★ 4.49 Audible (4.5K)17h 16m listening time • Released 2014 - 24
Four Past Midnight
Four Past Midnight #1-4 • Book 1
by Stephen King
Narrated by James Woods, Tim Sample, Willem Dafoe, Ken Howard
★ 4.36 ABR Score (120.7K ratings)★ 3.95 Goodreads (116.6K) ★ 4.49 Audible (4.2K)29h 39m listening time • Released 2016 - 25
Desperation
by Stephen King
Narrated by Stephen King
★ 4.36 ABR Score (162.3K ratings)★ 3.86 Goodreads (154.4K) ★ 4.48 Audible (7.9K)21h 15m listening time • Released 2016
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How We Rank Audiobooks
Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.
Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.
We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.
Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.