Best Peter Straub Audiobooks
Peter Straub occupies a rare space in horror — literary enough to unsettle readers who don't think they like the genre, scary enough to satisfy those who do. Ghost Story is his landmark: a slow-burn, architecturally intricate novel where the terror lives in memory, guilt, and the stories we tell ourselves about the past. The Talisman, co-written with Stephen King, shows his range — a mythic road-trip fantasy shot through with darkness and wonder. Straub's prose is dense and deliberate, full of psychological shadow and carefully constructed dread. He's less interested in monsters than in what they represent — the weight of the past, the corruption lurking in ordinary life. Readers who want horror that demands something from them, rather than just delivering shocks, will find Straub one of the genre's most rewarding and underappreciated voices.
Where to Start with Peter Straub
- Best entry point → Ghost Story
- Best standalone → The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine
- Start The Talisman series → The Talisman
- What fans keep coming back to → A Dark Matter
Best Peter Straub Audiobooks
- 1
The Talisman
The Talisman • Book 1
Narrated by Frank Muller
★ 4.17 ABR Score (160.4K ratings)★ 4.1 Goodreads (143.3K) ★ 4.41 Audible (17.1K)More about this pick
Twelve-year-old Jack travels between our world and a dark parallel dimension to find a magical talisman that can save his dying mother in this ambitious King-Straub collaboration.
- 2
Ghost Story
by Peter Straub
Narrated by Buck Schirner
★ 3.87 ABR Score (86.8K ratings)★ 3.91 Goodreads (83.7K) ★ 4.01 Audible (3.1K)More about this pick
Four elderly men in Milburn, New York confront the supernatural consequences of a decades-old crime. Buck Schirner's narration spans the epic length while maintaining tension through Straub's slow-building dread.
- 3
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010
Kyle Murchison Booth • Book 4
by Paula Guran, Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Ramsey Campbell, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Joe R. Lansdale, Stewart O'Nan, Sarah Pinborough, Norman Prentiss, Barbara Roden, Lucius Shepard, Peter Straub, Michael Shea, Kelly Link, Ekaterina Sedia, Catherynne M. Valente, Gerard Houarner, Gemma Files, Kurt Dinan, Elizabeth Bear, Roby Davies, Maura McHugh, Dale Bailey, Deborah Biancotti, Gary McMahon, Holly Phillips, John Mantooth, Marc Laidlaw, Margo Lanagan, Michael Marshall Smith, Nadia Bulkin, Nathan Ballingrud, Paul Tremblay, Peter Atkins, Sarah Monette, Seth Fried, Stephen Graham Jones, Steve Duffy, Steve Rasnic Tem, Suzy McKee Charnas, John Langan
Narrated by Kristin James, Matt Godfrey
★ 3.59 ABR Score (436 ratings)★ 3.84 Goodreads (431) ★ 4 Audible (5)More about this pick
From haunted houses to mysterious green stones, this collection explores darkness in everyday places through stories by Peter Straub, Kelly Link, and other masters of the genre.
- 4
The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine
by Peter Straub
Narrated by Michael Kramer
★ 3.37 ABR Score (651 ratings)★ 2.79 Goodreads (639) ★ 3.5 Audible (12)More about this pick
Age-separated lovers bound by erotic obsession spend twenty-five years aboard a mysterious yacht traveling endlessly down the Amazon River. Michael Kramer navigates this unsettling psychological novella with appropriate unease.
- 5
A Dark Matter
by Peter Straub
Narrated by Robertson Dean
★ 3.14 ABR Score (5.3K ratings)★ 2.97 Goodreads (5.1K) ★ 3.46 Audible (202)More about this pick
Charismatic campus guru Spenser Mallon led students to witness ritual murder in the 1960s, leaving survivors traumatized for decades until his apparent return threatens new horrors.