The 10 Best Stephen King Audiobooks, Ranked

The Dark Tower VII - 2004 - book cover (2)

Published Sep 29, 2026, 11:58 PM EDT

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Not every book is suited to the audiobook format, because sometimes, reading something is far more rewarding than listening to it. There are also audiobook recordings that feel a little lackluster, and do something of a disservice to the book as a result. You get it with Stephen King audiobooks sometimes, unfortunately, and it sometimes happens with big-name narrators (James Franco’s narration of The Dead Zone is kind of disappointing, and the same can be said about the parts of Hearts in Atlantis that William Hurt narrated, honestly).

Spinning things in a more positive direction, though, this does mean that audiobooks done correctly are very much worthy of celebration. The following Stephen King audiobooks are the best (arguably), and they all do justice to the original novels. The narrator will be specified for each example, since some Stephen King books have at least two different audiobook recordings (like The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, with Frank Muller narrating the original and George Guidall narrating the revised/expanded version).

10 'Under the Dome' (2009)

A fair few audiobooks of Stephen King’s are impressive in part because of their length and the notion that keeping a recording consistent for a few dozen hours is harder than, you know, keeping things consistent for “only” about a dozen hours. Raul Esparza’s narration of Under the Dome is impressive partly for this reason, since the audiobook version of this 1000-ish-page-long novel clocks in at a little under 35 hours all up.

The story concerns a very small town being trapped under a dome, and there are some pretty awful people in that town who were already doing rather awful things, and so everything bad is just exacerbated. It’s very tense for almost its entire duration, and the recorded version of Under the Dome is undoubtedly great for anyone who might find the size of the physical book on its own somewhat intimidating.

9 'Dolores Claiborne' (1992)

Frances Sternhagen was an actress prolific on several fronts, doing TV work, some feature film roles (including a supporting turn in the film adaptation of King’s Misery), and acting on stage. There’s also at least one audiobook to her name, and it’s an undoubtedly interesting one: Dolores Claiborne, which is presented as a lengthy transcript of a statement she gives to police regarding her knowledge of two murders.

The audiobook, therefore, is like listening to a one-person show to an even greater extent than most audiobooks. Sternhagen just has to read and read and read, and she adds a lot to the story, which, it should be noted, is also quite good (and mostly consistent quality-wise) on its own. With Dolores Claiborne, there’s a pretty good argument to be made that you're missing out if you don’t listen to at least some of it, or maybe even listen while you read, if you do sincerely insist on physically reading every book you tackle.

8 'Needful Things' (1991)

The audiobook version of Needful Things is pretty fun, because it’s one of the handful of Stephen King stories that the man himself narrates. He isn't as great a narrator as he is a writer, sure, but what he does have to offer as the former is well-utilized in Needful Things, partly because it’s a fairly over-the-top book in some regards, and the hamminess of King’s narration does add to that kind of charm.

It’s not all fun, of course, but Needful Things does have a fair bit by way of dark comedy in it, especially in the first half, because the slow destruction of the town of Castle Rock starts out kind of silly before getting a bit more harrowing in the second half. For another good book read by Stephen King, he does a pretty solid job as the co-narrator of Rose Madder, alongside Blair Brown.

7 '11/22/63' (2011)

At about 30 hours in length, the audiobook of 11/22/63 is one of the longer ones in the Stephen King catalog, and it’s also one of the better ones, too, thanks to the no-nonsense narration of Craig Wasson. Most Stephen King books aren’t written in first-person, making 11/22/63 something of a novelty, and there is an extra personal touch to the story because of how well (and carefully) it’s narrated here.

Narratively, 11/22/63 isn't about something you'd expect to find emotional, because it’s a time travel-related story about trying to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but therein lies one of the main things that makes it so great. It’s also engaging as a slice-of-life story of sorts, because there is a lot of build-up to the titular date, since the protagonist can only travel back to 1958, and has to wait/plan for half a decade. You can read or listen, or both, but in any event, what you’ve got here is one of the absolute strongest works Stephen King’s put out in this century to date.

6 'Mr. Mercedes' (2014)

If you see Will Patton’s name next to a Stephen King title, you're probably going to be in for something great listening-wise, and probably the superior version of whatever that story is, too (compared to just reading it). Maybe that has a little to do with Patton narrating some of King’s newer books, and not always amazing ones, but he’s got a cadence and style, as a narrator, that really suits the books he’s narrated.

He’s done a good many of the books with Holly Gibney as either a supporting or lead character, and honestly, how he does her voice is just so perfect, even though he doesn’t sound like a woman at all. Mr. Mercedes is probably the best of the books he’s narrated, so that’s edging out the others here as a result. But in any event, all the Patton-narrated books are executed equally well, honestly.

5 'The Long Walk' (1979)

The Long Walk is worth including here not so much because of the quality of the narration (by Kirby Heyborne, though it is good, for the record), but more because the story itself is so well-suited to being listened to rather than read. Okay, it is still great if you do the latter, and for the former to be a superior experience, you do have to be moving around, going somewhere, or doing some kind of cardio to have it be something special.

Like, The Long Walk is about young men being forced to walk until they can’t any longer, with the winner of this whole competition being the sole survivor (literally), and the last person walking. If you can walk, run, or sit yourself on an exercise bike and push yourself endurance-wise while listening to this story about people being pushed themselves via walking over countless hours, and then numerous days, you will find yourself immersed in the whole thing to an uncomfortable/visceral extent.

4 'The Stand' (1978/1990)

Since it’s an exceptionally long book, if you're talking about the 1990 uncut version, then the audiobook of The Stand read by Grover Gardner is also quite the epic listen, clocking in at just a couple of hours shy of 50. If you don’t speed up the audio at all, it would take two full days of listening to get through, and that does sound daunting the same way the idea of reading 1200 pages of The Stand might sound intimidating, but doing either is very much worth it.

It is a book with quite a lot of characters doing quite a bit by way of traversing a post-apocalyptic United States, so that does make the audiobook version of The Stand ideal for traveling or road trips.

There is a ton to narrate here, obviously, so the fact that the audiobook version of The Stand remains as consistent and compelling as it does is quite the accomplishment. While physical exhaustion is not as consistent in The Stand as The Long Walk, it is a book with quite a lot of characters doing quite a bit by way of traversing a post-apocalyptic United States, so that does make the audiobook version of The Stand ideal for traveling or road trips (hopefully not as perilous in nature) of your own.

3 'IT' (1986)

Sure, IT isn't quite as long as The Stand, but it’s not far off in terms of page count. IT was the longest Stephen King book for a few years, given it’s the uncut version of The Stand that ended up being longer, rather than the original 1978 version. As far as the audio goes, it comes in at just under 45 hours, so only a few hours shorter than The Stand, in the end.

The story… well, you know what this one’s about, right? Even if you’ve not read IT, it’s the kind of Stephen King story you'd likely know about from either the adaptations or just pop culture generally. The only other thing worth noting, when it comes to the audiobook, is that this one’s narrated by Steven Weber, and he’s acted in a few Stephen King adaptations himself (probably most notably with the miniseries version of The Shining, and then also the TV movie adaptation of Desperation).

It

Release Date September 8, 2017

Runtime 135 minutes

2 'The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower' (2004)

As mentioned before, the first book in The Dark Tower series (The Gunslinger) has two different versions, and also two different audiobooks. Frank Muller handled the first one, and also books #2 through #4 of the series, but had a motorcycle accident in 2001 that forced him to step away from narrating, and then also led to him passing away in 2008. While he was narrating for King, though, he was probably the king of narrating King. Probably still is, honestly.

So, having to step up and narrate books #5 through #7 couldn’t have been easy, but George Guidall did well and truly rise to the occasion. Guidall’s efforts were consistently strong, so The Dark Tower VII is being highlighted here, just because it’s the longest and most ambitious book in the series, and would've been the toughest to tackle as a narrator (one imagines… and having to narrate Stephen King himself, who plays a supporting role in his own book, must've been a challenge).

1 'The Talisman' (1984)

Shattered glass with text on the book cover for The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub.

So, honorable mention, obviously, to all The Dark Tower books that Frank Muller did narrate. He was also the narrator of the excellent Different Seasons, The Green Mile, and the not-so-excellent The Regulators, among some others. He knew how to bring Stephen King stories to life, and make them work as audiobooks, and it might well be The Talisman that showcases his skills as a narrator the best.

Well, okay, all the stuff that makes his Dark Tower recordings great can be found here, so selecting the “best” Frank Muller recording feels difficult, and even a little foolish. It’s just that there is something about The Talisman that really works better, as an audiobook, than a traditional novel, and Muller’s work here is instrumental to that. And he proves he also “gets” Peter Straub here, too, since The Talisman was co-written by King and Straub (they re-teamed to do Black House, and Frank Muller recorded a pretty great audiobook for that one, too).