Page turning audiobooks
May 21, 2024 10:09 AM Subscribe
I have recently gotten into audiobooks! I need some recommendations with certain criteria below.
I'm looking for thriller, mystery-type books. I prefer the narrators of the audiobook not do "voices" if at all possible, or if they do, that it is minimal or without too much inflection. I honestly hate being read to because of narrators doing voices, changing their voice. Just read me the words, please. However, I acknowledge that some change is necessary when changing characters. But really, I can't stand it. I'd much prefer many narrators filling in the characters to illustrate that there's been a character change.
So, any good books you've enjoyed lately that might fit these criteria? Love thriller/mystery. I recently listened to The Silent Patient and really loved it, devoured it in a day. I tend toward fiction, however, if non-fiction reads like fiction, I'm down.
I'm looking for thriller, mystery-type books. I prefer the narrators of the audiobook not do "voices" if at all possible, or if they do, that it is minimal or without too much inflection. I honestly hate being read to because of narrators doing voices, changing their voice. Just read me the words, please. However, I acknowledge that some change is necessary when changing characters. But really, I can't stand it. I'd much prefer many narrators filling in the characters to illustrate that there's been a character change.
So, any good books you've enjoyed lately that might fit these criteria? Love thriller/mystery. I recently listened to The Silent Patient and really loved it, devoured it in a day. I tend toward fiction, however, if non-fiction reads like fiction, I'm down.
I recently listened to the audiobook of The Silence Of The Lambs after having read it over two decades ago. Pleased to report to you that it holds up extremely well, it's a 10/10 book with excellent suspense and characterization, very good writing, laugh out loud humor, and well researched to boot. The narration is also superlative. There are no "voices" being performed as such, but Lecter is clearly drawn from Anthony Hopkins's performance and there are a few moments where the narrator performs a very good southern accent because it's relevant to the plot. It's just flawless and I listened to the book twice over!
If you can find audiobooks of Dick Francis novels, they tend to be very reliably good. My favorites are the Sid Halley books. Whip Hand is one I recently listened to and the narrator was excellent, like, he has the feel of a Dick Francis hero down pat, saying a lot with his silences. Dick Francis stories are always traditional murder mysteries often set in the world of horse racing. The Sid Halley novels feature a retired jockey as detective. I would recommend these books to any mystery fan.
I also recently listened to Atonement by Ian McEwan and wowwww was that a fantastic and twisty and utterly unpredictable novel. Even though it's not a traditional thriller, it is rivetingly suspenseful, and especially the first half of the book is edge-of-your-seat listening. (The rest of the book is great too but the first half is something else.) The narrator is top notch and does not perform any voices or special accents.
Have you tried Louise Penney? Her cosy mysteries do become repetitive as the books go on, but damned if they aren't the perfect comfort reading for any cosy mystery fan. Just try the first couple of books and you can always quit if it starts feeling repetitive. Penney is well worth reading, and the narrator of the first ten (I think?) books did a fantastic job, including no special "voices" but one or two french canadian accents performed well. He passed away recently and someone else has been narrating the more recent books, I like that guy too but the first one was awesome.
And finally, if you liked The Silent Patient, you will probably like Lisa Jewell's books. I recently listened to None Of This Is True, it was pretty good. It's a lot like Gone Girl or The Silent Patient or Pretty Little Liars - snappy, modern, female-focused mysteries with a good creep factor.
I borrow all audiobooks from my local library through the Libby app.
posted by MiraK at 10:53 AM on May 21 [3 favorites]
If you can find audiobooks of Dick Francis novels, they tend to be very reliably good. My favorites are the Sid Halley books. Whip Hand is one I recently listened to and the narrator was excellent, like, he has the feel of a Dick Francis hero down pat, saying a lot with his silences. Dick Francis stories are always traditional murder mysteries often set in the world of horse racing. The Sid Halley novels feature a retired jockey as detective. I would recommend these books to any mystery fan.
I also recently listened to Atonement by Ian McEwan and wowwww was that a fantastic and twisty and utterly unpredictable novel. Even though it's not a traditional thriller, it is rivetingly suspenseful, and especially the first half of the book is edge-of-your-seat listening. (The rest of the book is great too but the first half is something else.) The narrator is top notch and does not perform any voices or special accents.
Have you tried Louise Penney? Her cosy mysteries do become repetitive as the books go on, but damned if they aren't the perfect comfort reading for any cosy mystery fan. Just try the first couple of books and you can always quit if it starts feeling repetitive. Penney is well worth reading, and the narrator of the first ten (I think?) books did a fantastic job, including no special "voices" but one or two french canadian accents performed well. He passed away recently and someone else has been narrating the more recent books, I like that guy too but the first one was awesome.
And finally, if you liked The Silent Patient, you will probably like Lisa Jewell's books. I recently listened to None Of This Is True, it was pretty good. It's a lot like Gone Girl or The Silent Patient or Pretty Little Liars - snappy, modern, female-focused mysteries with a good creep factor.
I borrow all audiobooks from my local library through the Libby app.
posted by MiraK at 10:53 AM on May 21 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I would be remiss if I did not recommend the audiobook of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - one of my favorite books when I read it in traditional book form, elevated to jaw-dropping when I listened to the narrated version by Bahni Turpin. This one ended up winning practically all of the audiobook awards the year it was released. (And practically all the book awards too!)
posted by MiraK at 11:02 AM on May 21
posted by MiraK at 11:02 AM on May 21
World War Z by Max Brooks. It’s the story of a worldwide zombie plague, told as a collection of first-person narratives, with each narrator played by a different actor. Each chapter is thrilling or fascinating or both, and the overall story is unlike any zombie fiction you’ve previously read. (Speaking of, if you’ve seen the movie, it is almost completely unrelated and not indicative of the book’s quality.)
posted by ejs at 11:34 AM on May 21 [4 favorites]
posted by ejs at 11:34 AM on May 21 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Marcie Rendon has a trilogy about a native woman in the early 1980s, Cash Blackbear and it is pretty thrilling. No bad voices that I can recall and I have listened to all three of them.
posted by soelo at 11:56 AM on May 21
posted by soelo at 11:56 AM on May 21
I've gotten into Martin Cruz Smith lately. Gorky Park is a great intro. I think Polar Star is his best.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:04 PM on May 21
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:04 PM on May 21
Best answer: MetaFilter's own John Scalzi wrote the Dispatcher series, narrated by Zachary Quinto. Turns out Zachary Quinto is my favourite narrator. They are not traditional murder mysteries, but to explain why would spoil it, and it is a bit thriller-y.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:43 PM on May 21 [2 favorites]
posted by DarlingBri at 12:43 PM on May 21 [2 favorites]
Oh also Nick Pirog's 3 AM series. A non-traditional thriller series. I think it might be free on Audible?
posted by DarlingBri at 12:50 PM on May 21
posted by DarlingBri at 12:50 PM on May 21
There is a podcast, Phoebe Reads a Mystery, that certainly fits your criteria for not "overly voice-y." She serializes classic mysteries and mystery-adjacent books like The Picture of Dorian Gray, Sherlock Holmes mysteries, Arsene Lupin, Agatha Christie and much more.
posted by sonofsnark at 2:22 PM on May 21 [4 favorites]
posted by sonofsnark at 2:22 PM on May 21 [4 favorites]
I liked the audiobook of Alice Bell's Grave Expectations fairly well. The reader didn't annoy me and the overall story was well-paced.
I'm currently finishing The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson and I think it would be one of those books that would be better read than listened to. At least for me, listening to it has been tedious, although I haven't hated the story, but you may be different. The reader of it is fine and only does some "voices" for the other characters.
I'm only mentioning these two in case it points you to other recommendations. I also need more of this nature and they're hard to find!
posted by edencosmic at 6:17 PM on May 21
I'm currently finishing The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson and I think it would be one of those books that would be better read than listened to. At least for me, listening to it has been tedious, although I haven't hated the story, but you may be different. The reader of it is fine and only does some "voices" for the other characters.
I'm only mentioning these two in case it points you to other recommendations. I also need more of this nature and they're hard to find!
posted by edencosmic at 6:17 PM on May 21
Best answer: I'd much prefer many narrators filling in the characters to illustrate that there's been a character change.
FWIW, I think this is called a "full-cast" audiobook, and that's totally a thing. I think Neil Gaiman's American Gods was one of the first audiobooks I heard and it did this well (IMHO, YMMV, etc.) Librivox has a "solo/group" setting, but not a full-cast option that I could see, but I got a long list of options with a search on Libby. https://www.google.com/search?q= full+cast +site:libbyapp.com
posted by adekllny at 12:07 PM on May 22
FWIW, I think this is called a "full-cast" audiobook, and that's totally a thing. I think Neil Gaiman's American Gods was one of the first audiobooks I heard and it did this well (IMHO, YMMV, etc.) Librivox has a "solo/group" setting, but not a full-cast option that I could see, but I got a long list of options with a search on Libby. https://www.google.com/search?q= full+cast +site:libbyapp.com
posted by adekllny at 12:07 PM on May 22
David Oyewolo is enthralling narrating John Le Carré's The Mission Song. His accents clearly distinguish the characters without feeling like a full cast.
posted by Jesse the K at 9:32 AM on May 23
posted by Jesse the K at 9:32 AM on May 23
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It's been a while since I listened to them, so I can't really recall the specifics of the readers' intonations, but I really enjoyed several of the Samuel Butler books hosted on Librivox, Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh in particular.
As well, the single best audiobook I've ever listened to, Moby Dick, as read by Stewart Wills, is just wonderful, but, in my opinion, precisely because the author makes terrific use of voice and inflection. Probably not what you're looking for, but I want to plug it, anyway, because it's so damn good.
posted by Dr. Wu at 10:42 AM on May 21 [2 favorites]