Best Horror Audiobooks for Beginners

1

The Shining

The Shining • Book 1

by Stephen King

Narrated by Campbell Scott

★ 4.93 BLT Score (1.8M ratings)

★ 4.28 Goodreads (1.7M) ★ 4.75 Audible (41.5K)

15h 50m listening time • Released 2012

King's most psychologically terrifying novel — a haunted hotel, a disintegrating father, and a little boy whose gift is his greatest danger.

More about this pick

King's most psychologically terrifying novel — a haunted hotel, a disintegrating father, and a little boy whose gift is his greatest danger.

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
2

Pet Sematary

by Stephen King

Narrated by Michael C. Hall

★ 4.82 BLT Score (738.4K ratings)

★ 4.08 Goodreads (708.6K) ★ 4.77 Audible (29.8K)

15h 41m listening time • Released 2018

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
3

The Exorcist

The Exorcist • Book 1

by William Peter Blatty

Narrated by William Peter Blatty, Eliana Shaskan

★ 4.73 BLT Score (284.0K ratings)

★ 4.21 Goodreads (274.5K) ★ 4.71 Audible (9.5K)

12h 51m listening time • Released 2011

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
4

Dracula

by Bram Stoker

Narrated by Alan Cumming, Tim Curry, Simon Vance, Katherine Kellgren, Susan Duerden, John Lee, Graeme Malcolm, Steven Crossley

★ 4.68 BLT Score (1.5M ratings)

★ 4.02 Goodreads (1.5M) ★ 4.61 Audible (37.6K)

15h 27m listening time • Released 2012

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
5

Salem's Lot

by Stephen King

Narrated by Ron McLarty, Joe Hill

★ 4.65 BLT Score (695.6K ratings)

★ 4.1 Goodreads (667.2K) ★ 4.58 Audible (28.4K)

17h 37m listening time • Released 2012

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
6

Christine

by Stephen King, Marie Milpois

Narrated by Holter Graham

★ 4.58 BLT Score (271.2K ratings)

★ 3.86 Goodreads (265.6K) ★ 4.74 Audible (5.6K)

19h 35m listening time • Released 2016

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
7

Carrie

by Stephen King

Narrated by Sissy Spacek, Margaret Atwood

★ 4.54 BLT Score (864.9K ratings)

★ 3.99 Goodreads (856.4K) ★ 4.57 Audible (8.4K)

7h 46m listening time • Released 2012

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
8

Interview with the Vampire

The Vampire Chronicles • Book 1

by Anne Rice

Narrated by Simon Vance

★ 4.51 BLT Score (667.7K ratings)

★ 4.02 Goodreads (655.2K) ★ 4.5 Audible (12.5K)

14h 24m listening time • Released 2011

Simon Vance's performance transforms Rice's gothic confession into something hypnotic—his voice captures both the seductive languor and existential despair of a vampire's immortality with unsettling precision.

More about this pick

Simon Vance's performance transforms Rice's gothic confession into something hypnotic—his voice captures both the seductive languor and existential despair of a vampire's immortality with unsettling precision.

Start Listening → Get the Book →

Start Listening → Get the Book →
9

The Mist

Skeleton Crew • Book 1

by Stephen King

Narrated by Will Patton

★ 4.44 BLT Score (187.6K ratings)

★ 3.93 Goodreads (183.8K) ★ 4.58 Audible (3.8K)

5h 19m listening time • Released 2017

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
10

The Thief of Always

by Clive Barker

Narrated by Adam Verner

★ 4.39 BLT Score (38.7K ratings)

★ 4.21 Goodreads (37.8K) ★ 4.55 Audible (976)

4h 20m listening time • Released 2013

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
11

Full Dark, No Stars

by Stephen King

Narrated by Craig Wasson, Jessica Hecht

★ 4.38 BLT Score (127.9K ratings)

★ 4.09 Goodreads (118.6K) ★ 4.4 Audible (9.3K)

14h 55m listening time • Released 2010

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
12

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 BLT Score (114.0K ratings)

★ 3.97 Goodreads (109.6K) ★ 4.49 Audible (4.5K)

17h 16m listening time • Released 2014

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
13

Desperation

by Stephen King

Narrated by Stephen King

★ 4.36 BLT Score (162.3K ratings)

★ 3.86 Goodreads (154.4K) ★ 4.48 Audible (7.9K)

21h 15m listening time • Released 2016

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
14

FantasticLand

by Mike Bockoven

Narrated by Angela Dawe, Luke Daniels

★ 4.35 BLT Score (70.4K ratings)

★ 3.83 Goodreads (53.8K) ★ 4.48 Audible (16.6K)

10h 1m listening time • Released 2017

Dawe and Daniels' dual narration transforms this disaster-into-horror investigation into something genuinely unsettling—their competing testimonies make you question every account of what actually happened at the park.

More about this pick

Dawe and Daniels' dual narration transforms this disaster-into-horror investigation into something genuinely unsettling—their competing testimonies make you question every account of what actually happened at the park.

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
15

Cujo (1981) Stephen King 1st Print Hardback

Cujo / Rattlesnakes • Book 1

by Stephen King

Narrated by Lorna Raver

★ 4.35 BLT Score (329.1K ratings)

★ 3.8 Goodreads (324.9K) ★ 4.51 Audible (4.2K)

14h 7m listening time • Released 2016

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
16

The Mist (Previously Published as a Novella in 'Skeleton Crew')

Skeleton Crew • Book 1

by Stephen King

Narrated by Stephen King, Dylan Baker, Kyle Beltran, Matthew Broderick, Norbert Leo Butz, Michael C. Hall, Paul Giamatti, Dana Ivey, Will Patton, Robert Petkoff, David Morse, Lois Smith, Frances Sternhagen

★ 4.34 BLT Score (190.0K ratings)

★ 3.93 Goodreads (183.8K) ★ 4.44 Audible (6.2K)

22h 29m listening time • Released 2016

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
17

Home Before Dark

by Riley Sager

Narrated by Cady McClain, Jon Lindstrom

★ 4.34 BLT Score (327.0K ratings)

★ 4.04 Goodreads (320.3K) ★ 4.36 Audible (6.7K)

11h 4m listening time • Released 2020

Sager's haunted-house thriller deconstructs the genre in real time — a daughter returns to the house her father wrote about and finds his memoir was fiction.

More about this pick

Sager's haunted-house thriller deconstructs the genre in real time — a daughter returns to the house her father wrote about and finds his memoir was fiction.

Start Listening → Get the Book →

Start Listening → Get the Book →
18

Mountain Man

Mountain Man • Book 1

by Keith C. Blackmore

Narrated by R.C. Bray

★ 4.32 BLT Score (10.9K ratings)

★ 4.03 Goodreads (6.3K) ★ 4.5 Audible (4.7K)

8h 18m listening time • Released 2014

R.C. Bray's gravel-voiced narration makes this stripped-down zombie survival story feel like a gritty memoir—he sells both the brutal isolation and the unexpected humanity that sneaks up on you.

More about this pick

R.C. Bray's gravel-voiced narration makes this stripped-down zombie survival story feel like a gritty memoir—he sells both the brutal isolation and the unexpected humanity that sneaks up on you.

Start Listening → Get the Book →

Start Listening → Get the Book →
19

The Omen

The Omen • Book 1

by David Seltzer

Narrated by Holly Palance, Mark Owen

★ 4.32 BLT Score (70.8K ratings)

★ 4.04 Goodreads (70.1K) ★ 4.57 Audible (671)

7h 8m listening time • Released 2019

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
20

Stephen King Value Collection: Lawnmower Man, Gray Matter, and Graveyard Shift

by Stephen King, John Glover

Narrated by John Glover

★ 4.31 BLT Score (201.4K ratings)

★ 4.04 Goodreads (200.0K) ★ 4.44 Audible (1.4K)

3h 24m listening time • Released 1999

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
21

Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales

by H.P. Lovecraft, Les Edwards, Stephen Jones

Narrated by Richard Powers, Bronson Pinchot, Stephen R. Thorne, Keith Szarabajka, Adam Verner, Tom Weiner, Patrick Cullen

★ 4.30 BLT Score (23.6K ratings)

★ 4.23 Goodreads (16.6K) ★ 4.32 Audible (7.1K)

21h 1m listening time • Released 2014

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Start Listening → Get the Book →
22

The Dark Half

by Stephen King

Narrated by Grover Gardner

★ 4.29 BLT Score (157.2K ratings)

★ 3.81 Goodreads (153.5K) ★ 4.48 Audible (3.7K)

15h 14m listening time • Released 2016

Grover Gardner transforms King's psychological horror into something genuinely unsettling—his dual vocal performance as writer and murderer creates an intimacy that makes the paranoia crawl under your skin in ways print never could.

More about this pick

Grover Gardner transforms King's psychological horror into something genuinely unsettling—his dual vocal performance as writer and murderer creates an intimacy that makes the paranoia crawl under your skin in ways print never could.

Start Listening → Get the Book →

Start Listening → Get the Book →
23

Broken Lands

Rot & Ruin: Broken Lands • Book 1

by Jonathan Maberry

Narrated by Ray Porter

★ 4.29 BLT Score (2.7K ratings)

★ 4.18 Goodreads (1.2K) ★ 4.61 Audible (1.5K)

12h 8m listening time • Released 2018

Ray Porter's narration transforms this zombie-infused sequel into a visceral, character-driven thriller that makes the post-apocalyptic dread feel immediate and personal.

More about this pick

Ray Porter's narration transforms this zombie-infused sequel into a visceral, character-driven thriller that makes the post-apocalyptic dread feel immediate and personal.

Start Listening → Get the Book →

Start Listening → Get the Book →
24

Bird Box

Bird Box • Book 1

by Josh Malerman

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

★ 4.27 BLT Score (221.6K ratings)

★ 4.05 Goodreads (212.4K) ★ 4.27 Audible (9.2K)

9h 8m listening time • Released 2014

Start Listening → Get the Book →

Start Listening → Get the Book →
25

The Amityville Horror

by Jay Anson

Narrated by Ray Porter

★ 4.26 BLT Score (147.1K ratings)

★ 3.83 Goodreads (138.4K) ★ 4.38 Audible (8.7K)

6h 28m listening time • Released 2009

Ray Porter's deadpan delivery transforms this into pure psychological dread—he sells the slow-burn terror without ever overselling it, making the escalating haunting feel disturbingly plausible.

More about this pick

Ray Porter's deadpan delivery transforms this into pure psychological dread—he sells the slow-burn terror without ever overselling it, making the escalating haunting feel disturbingly plausible.

Start Listening → Get the Book →

Start Listening → Get the Book →

Ready for more? Horror has incredible range — from literary Gothic to cosmic dread to psychological suspense. Let the subgenre that grabbed you guide your next pick.

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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 →