7 Best Horror Audiobooks of 2022 that Will Make Your Spine Chill

Audiobooks are a genius invention, mainly because you can already “read” or listen to your favorite book without having to physically hold it. You can get chores done, take a bath, finish a painting, run some errands, and do other things all while being able to digest a magnificent piece of literature.

One famous genre that utilizes audiobooks’ marvelous storytelling is the horror genre. Imagine having that build up of emotions in the way the narrator tells you the scenes or maybe how a sudden drop in the narrator’s voice depicts an omen. Audiobooks can surely do wonders for those who love the spine-chilling stories that authors want to convey.

With that, there is already an abundance of audiobooks that people who love the scary scene can enjoy. Let us take a look at some of the best horror audiobooks in 2022*.

*popular in 2022 but may be published some years earlier

Dracula

Author: Bram Stoker

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

Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins

The modern audience has not had a chance to fully comprehend the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript because of the widespread knowledge of the tale of the evil Transylvanian count and the success of numerous film adaptations that have been produced over the years. To recreate that gothic tension, most contemporary films use campiness or sound effects, but the producers tried something different. They have attempted to retain the horror and force of Stoker's original intent by reverting to his original narrative format, which was a series of letters and journal entries read by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters.

The Ghost Tree

Author: Christina Henry

Narrated by: Jan Johns

Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins

Lauren is shocked to discover two girls' dead body, torn apart, in Smiths Hollow, but she also anticipates that the police won't catch the murderer. After all, everyone has moved on since her father's body was discovered the previous year with his heart stolen. Even Miranda, her closest friend, has started to show more interest in males than in hanging out by the old ghost tree as they used to when they were younger.

Lauren knows she cannot stand by and do nothing when she sees a creature dragging the girls' corpses through the woods in a vision. Unlike the majority of her town. But as she gets closer to the solutions, she understands that the core of her seemingly typical community may be rotten. And she will stand up for the missing if no one else does.

Deacon of Wounds

Author: David Annandale

Narrated by: Christopher Kent

Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins

Theotokos' world is perishing. All but the Magerit capital city have been destroyed by drought. Even worse, the population is being decimated by an outbreak of the deadly virus known as the Grey Tears. Only the charismatic Arch-Deacon Ambrose prevents anarchy and despair. Ambrose, however, finds it difficult to face the horrifying actions he must take to save his people as the virus rages through the streets, killing its victims with bizarre symptoms.

Two Can Keep a Secret

Author: Karen M. McManus

Narrated by: Sophie Amoss, Kirby Heyborne

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Echo Ridge is a typical American community. Ellery has heard a lot about it but has never gone there. At the age of 17, her aunt vanished there. And just five years ago, the murder of a homecoming queen made the community famous. Ellery is now forced to relocate there in order to live with a grandma she hardly knows.

Although the community appears idyllic, secrets are being kept there. In addition, someone has proclaimed homecoming open season and promised to make it just as dangerous as it was five years ago before Ellery even starts school. Another girl then vanishes, almost as if to prove it.

Ellery is an expert on secrets. They are owned by both her mother and grandma. Additionally, it becomes more obvious that everyone in Echo Ridge is hiding something the longer she is there. The problem is that most individuals struggle to retain secrets, which makes them dangerous. It is therefore best to keep your secrets to yourself at Echo Ridge.

Network Effect

By: Martha Wells

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free

Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins

You know that feeling when you've had enough of the people at work and the boss comes in with yet another task that needs to be completed immediately or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge watch your favorite shows? And you're a murderous sentient machine designed for annihilation? You're a Murderbot, congratulations.

Stay for the most relatable AI you'll hear this century; come for the pew-pew space fights.

Most of my troubles originate in my head, where I am most often by myself.

Murderbot must decide between inaction and severe action when its human associates—not friends, never friends—are caught and another not-friend from its history needs assistance immediately.

A Master of Djinn

Author: P. Djèlí Clark

Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar

Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins

Cairo, 1912: Despite being the youngest woman employed by the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, Fatma el-Sha'arawi is unquestionably no newcomer, especially after averting the end of the universe last summer.

Agent Fatma is therefore tasked with solving the murder of a secret fraternity honoring al-Jahiz, one of history's most well-known figures. When he removed the barrier separating the magical and natural worlds forty years ago, Al-Jahiz changed the course of history before disappearing into oblivion. This assassin, who makes the claim to be al-Jahiz, has come back to denounce the current day for its societal injustices. His lethal magical prowess stirs up discontent in Cairo's streets that threatens to spread to the rest of the world.

Agent Fatma must solve the riddle surrounding this imposter with the help of her Ministry colleagues and a person from her past in order to bring peace back to the city—or risk the potential that he might not be who he seems.

December Park

Author: Ronald Malfi

Narrated by: Eric G. Dove

Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins

The peaceful neighborhood of Harting Farms is rocked in the fall of 1993 when kids start disappearing and one is discovered dead close to December Park, a large, expansive area that is tucked beneath the streets and encircled on three sides by enormous woodlands, a place that kids believe is haunted. Newspapers refer to the kidnapper as the Piper because he has come to take children away, but students call him by more derogatory names in the school hallways. In an effort to put an end to the Piper's reign of terror, Angelo Mazzone and his companions start looking for the murderer after finding a connection to the murdered girl. Their adolescent commitment turns into a quest for identity and an excursion into the depths of their own hometown.

And that is it for the best horror audiobooks of 2022. Many of these audiobooks are also readily available on public domain so make sure to keep an eye out.

Have you ever read or listened to any on this list? If so, let us know how your experience went!