Best Christine Lakin Audiobooks

The best audiobooks narrated by Christine Lakin — 7 titles spanning Mystery, averaging 4.65 ABR stars.

Christine Lakin has become synonymous with Renée Ballard — Michael Connelly's tenacious LAPD detective who works the overnight shift and refuses to let cold cases stay cold. Lakin's voice is crisp and controlled, with a measured cadence that suits procedural fiction perfectly: she doesn't rush the tension, she builds it. Across Dark Sacred Night, The Dark Hours, and Desert Star, she's developed such a lived-in feel for Ballard that it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role. She also brings that same cool precision to Riley Sager's The Only One Left, a thriller that demands careful tonal shifts between dread and revelation. Mystery fans who want a narrator who stays out of the way of the story — no showboating, just clean, intelligent performance — will find Lakin consistently satisfying.

Where to Start with Christine Lakin

  1. 1
    Resurrection Walk cover

    Resurrection Walk

    The Lincoln Lawyer • Book 7

    by Michael Connelly

    Narrated by Peter Giles, Titus Welliver, Christine Lakin

    ★ 4.86 ABR Score (84.5K ratings)
    ★ 4.53 Goodreads (77.5K) ★ 4.81 Audible (6.9K)
    10h 30m listening time • Released 2023
    Listen Free on Audible
  2. 2
    Desert Star cover

    Desert Star

    Renée Ballard • Book 5

    by Michael Connelly

    Narrated by Titus Welliver, Christine Lakin, Peter Giles

    ★ 4.81 ABR Score (96.7K ratings)
    ★ 4.47 Goodreads (86.3K) ★ 4.77 Audible (10.4K)
    9h 43m listening time • Released 2022
    Listen Free on Audible
  3. 3
    The Night Fire cover

    The Night Fire

    Renée Ballard • Book 3

    by Michael Connelly

    Narrated by Christine Lakin, Titus Welliver

    ★ 4.67 ABR Score (90.5K ratings)
    ★ 4.29 Goodreads (76.6K) ★ 4.7 Audible (14.0K)
    10h 4m listening time • Released 2019
    Listen Free on Audible
  4. 4
    The Dark Hours cover

    The Dark Hours

    Renée Ballard • Book 4

    by Michael Connelly

    Narrated by Titus Welliver, Christine Lakin

    ★ 4.65 ABR Score (94.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.39 Goodreads (83.6K) ★ 4.65 Audible (10.7K)
    11h 4m listening time • Released 2021
    Listen Free on Audible
  5. 5
    The Waiting cover

    The Waiting

    Renée Ballard • Book 6

    by Michael Connelly

    Narrated by Christine Lakin, Titus Welliver, Madison Lintz

    ★ 4.62 ABR Score (76.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.36 Goodreads (71.3K) ★ 4.68 Audible (4.7K)
    10h 50m listening time • Released 2024
    Listen Free on Audible
  6. 6
    Dark Sacred Night cover

    Dark Sacred Night

    Renée Ballard • Book 2

    by Michael Connelly

    Narrated by Christine Lakin, Titus Welliver

    ★ 4.52 ABR Score (96.8K ratings)
    ★ 4.18 Goodreads (84.3K) ★ 4.61 Audible (12.5K)
    10h 39m listening time • Released 2018
    Listen Free on Audible
  7. 7
    The Only One Left cover

    The Only One Left

    by Riley Sager

    Narrated by Christine Lakin, Dawn Harvey

    ★ 4.45 ABR Score (645.8K ratings)
    ★ 4.13 Goodreads (635.0K) ★ 4.52 Audible (10.8K)
    12h 32m listening time • Released 2023

    Sager's best novel — a nurse caring for the sole survivor of a historical massacre discovers the old woman may be hiding the truth about what really happened.

    Listen Free on Audible

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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.

Read our full ranking methodology →