Whether you’re already a fan or just need a break from the commercials on the radio, plenty of great audiobooks can help you pass the time on your long or short hauls. Here are 10 audiobooks from a mix of genres with summaries and ratings, thanks to audible.com.
1. Before the Fall
Author: Noah Hawley
Genre: Mystery
Rating (out of 5): 4.2
Length:12 hours, 59 minutes
“On a foggy summer night, 11 people–10 privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter–depart Martha’s Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later the unthinkable happens: The plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are Scott Burroughs–the painter–and a 4-year-old boy who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul’s family.”
2. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Author: Michael Lewis
Genre: Nonfiction (Business)
Rating (out of 5): 4.6
Length: 9 hours, 27 minutes
“Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-rising real-estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages? Michael Lewis turns the inquiry on its head to create a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor.”
3. The Boys in the Boat
Author: Daniel James Brown
Genre: History
Rating (out of 5): 4.8
Length: 14 hours, 25 minutes
“Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic Games in Berlin, 1936.”
4. The Girl on the Train: A Novel
Author: Paula Hawkins
Genre: Thriller
Rating (out of 5): 4.3
Length: 10 hours, 59 minutes
“Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. And then she sees something shocking. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved.”
5. The Kind Worth Killing
Author: Peter Swanson
Genre: Thriller
Rating (out of 5): 4.3
Length: 10 hours, 18 minutes
“On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife, Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start–he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit–a contrast that once inflamed their passion but has now become a cliché.”
6. The Last Mile
Author: David Baldacci
Genre: Mystery
Rating (out of 5): 4.5
Length: 11 hours, 49 minutes
“In his No. 1 New York Times bestseller Memory Man, David Baldacci introduced the extraordinary detective Amos Decker–the man who can forget nothing. Now, Decker returns in a spectacular new thriller.”
7. Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating (out of 5): 4.7
Length: 15 hours, 46 minutes
“At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready PlayerOne is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut–part quest novel, part love story and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.”
8. Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating (out of 5): 4.6
Length: 16 hours, 12 minutes
“Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet.”
9. The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge
Author: Michael Punke
Genre: Historical
Rating (out of 5): 4.4
Length: 9 hours, 12 minutes
“The year is 1823, and the trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is among the company’s finest men, an experienced frontiersman, and an expert tracker. But when a scouting mission puts him face to face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. Two company men are dispatched to stay behind and tend to Glass before he dies. When the men abandon him instead, Glass is driven to survive by one desire: revenge.”
10. 11/22/63
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Sci-fi
Rating (out of 5): 4.6
Length: 30 hours, 44 minutes
“On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King–who has absorbed the social, political and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.”
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