22+ Audiobooks for Road Trips and Long Drives
Audiobooks are one of the easiest ways to pass the time on the road and one of our personal favorite forms of road trip entertainment. A good story fills the hours between destinations and gives everyone in the car something to share.
We’ve tested a lot of audiobooks on our own road trips (including every single Harry Potter book during our 2021 Travel Season through Colorado and Utah!), and we can confirm: the right audiobook can change your entire roadtrip experience. Here are our top audiobook recommendations for road trips and long drives!
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Best Audiobook Series for Road Trips
Long drives pair perfectly with long stories. The Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson, or The Hunger Games can carry you through hours of driving. Here are our favorite audiobook series for road trips.
🎯 RTL tip: Download Audible, Libby, or Hoopla before your trip so you have a full library of audiobooks ready to go offline. Download both the app and the specific audiobook so you can keep listening even through remote driving stretches.
1. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
This series is a road trip legend. Plus, with all seven books totaling more than 100 hours, you’ll have more than enough entertainment for even a cross-country trip.
2. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Totally binge-worthy, this series is great for older teens and adults.
3. Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan
Packed with humor and adventure, these are a hit with families. If your kids love mythology or superhero movies, they’ll be hooked on Percy Jackson’s misadventures.
4. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
A classic experience with rich storytelling, lyrical narration, and epic adventure. Ideal for slow, scenic drives.
5. Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
A thought-provoking dystopian world that’s perfect for long drives through open landscapes.
6. The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner
Mysterious and suspenseful, this action-heavy series keeps the energy high mile after mile.
7. The Chronicles of Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis
Magical and adventurous, the Chronicles of Narnia series is great for family road trips.
Mystery & Thriller Authors for Road Trips
If you like a story that keeps you guessing and keeps your eyes glued to the road, these authors have dozens of audiobooks that make time disappear. Mysteries and thrillers are our main go-to on the road.
8. John Grisham (The Guardians, The Partner, The Judge’s List, The Whistler, The Firm)
Legal thrillers are Grisham’s specialty. His books are detailed enough to be immersive but easy to follow on the road, making them ideal for driving days.
9. Megan Miranda (The Safest Lies, All the Missing Girls, The Last House Guest)
Miranda writes fast-paced mysteries often set in small towns with big secrets. Her stories are suspenseful but not too dark, perfect for road trips when you want that edge-of-your-seat feeling without the nightmares.
10. Lucy Foley (The Guest List, The Paris Apartment, The Midnight Feast)
Foley is known for her atmospheric whodunits, told through multiple narrators that feel like a full-cast podcast. Her stories are moody, stylish, and full of clever twists, great for listeners who love a bit of drama and a lot of tension.
11. Jeneva Rose (The Perfect Marriage, One of Us Is Dead)
Rose’s thrillers are sharp and her writing keeps you hooked from the first chapter, making these books great for solo drives when you want something dramatic and fast-paced.
12. Seraphina Nova Glass (The Vanishing Hour, On a Quiet Street, The Vacancy in Room 10)
These stories have a cinematic quality that’s great for listeners who like character-driven, slow-burning suspense.
13. B.A. Paris (Behind Closed Doors, The Therapist, The Breakdown)
Paris is a master of domestic suspense, with books that dive into the darker side of seemingly perfect relationships and make hours on the road disappear. (Just maybe skip these when you’re driving alone at night!)
14. Alex Michaelides (The Silent Patient, The Maidens)
Michaelides writes smart, psychological thrillers with big twists. His books are short, sharp, and satisfying listens that are best for travelers who love a good puzzle.
15. J.P. Pomare (Tell Me Lies, Trapdoor)
Pomare’s thrillers are built for audio, with multiple narrators, immersive sound design, and a podcast-like pace. His stories grab your attention and don’t let go until the end.
16. Paula Hawkins (The Girl on the Train, A Slow Fire Burning)
Hawkins writes psychological thrillers full of unreliable narrators and slow-building tension. Her stories make great road-trip companions when you want something layered and engaging that keeps you guessing.
17. Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch Series, The Lincoln Lawyer Series)
Connelly’s detective and legal thrillers are fast-paced and full of smart dialogue. Whether it’s Bosch on the case or Mickey Haller behind the wheel, his series make for engaging, easy-to-follow listening on the road.
18. David Baldacci (Zero Day, The 6:20 Man, Memory Man)
Baldacci delivers nonstop action with plots that move fast and heroes worth rooting for. His thrillers are perfect for drives when you want something gripping, straightforward, and full of energy.
Best Cozy Mysteries for Road Trips
If you prefer mysteries with charm, humor, and clever puzzles (but none of the nightmares), these cozy mystery series are perfect.
19. Lord Edgington Investigates by Benedict Brown
Follow the grandfather-grandson detective duo as they solve puzzles across English manors and countryside villages. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie or Knives Out-style mysteries. We stumbled upon Lord Edgington in 2023 on our way to Yellowstone and quickly began making our way through the series. Perfect when you’re in the mood for lighthearted mystery.
20. Finlay Donovan Series by Elle Cosimano
A quirky, laugh-out-loud mystery series about a struggling author who accidentally gets mistaken for a contract killer. It’s funny, smart, and full of unexpected twists—an excellent pick for when you want a mystery without the darkness.
21. Cleopatra Fox Mysteries by C.J. Archer
This series follows a bold female sleuth through elegant drawing rooms, seaside towns, and high-society scandals. A great choice if you love period settings and strong heroines.
22. The Posie Parker Mystery Series by L.B. Hathaway
These mysteries follow Posie Parker, a London private investigator in the 1920s, as she solves cases around England. The stories are clean, straightforward whodunits with simple plots and a cozy, old-fashioned style.
23. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
Less cozy mystery and more psychological thriller, we listened to First Lie Wins while roadtripping through the Dakotas and loved it! It checks all the boxes for a great road trip audiobook: an entertaining story that keeps your attention, but one that’s still easy enough to follow if you happen to miss a minute here or there. (Important for me because I ALWAYS fall asleep in the passenger seat.) The narration is also great and adds to the story without being distracting.
Best Short Audiobooks for Road Trips
On our Dakotas road trip, we had about four hours of driving one day and specifically went looking for a thriller short enough that we could finish before we arrived. Here’s what we found.
24. The Last Trip by Kiersten Modglin
At just about five hours, The Last Trip was exactly what we were looking for. We listened to it on our drive from Dickinson to Rapid City, sped it up a little, and were able to finish the whole story before we arrived.
More Short Thriller Authors to Try
Kiersten Modglin: Many of her thrillers fall in the 4-6 hour range, including Don't Go Down There, Do Not Open, The Hidden, The Amendment, A Quiet Retreat, and Bitter House.
Daniel Hurst: Another good author to search when you want a thriller you can finish relatively quickly. We Used to Live Here, No Time to Be Alone, and The Perfect Escape are all under six hours.
Keep Planning Your Trip
Check out our Road Trip Packing List for the exact things we use and love on every road trip!
Ready to plan your next adventure? Explore our Free Resource Library for road trip itineraries, planning guides, and stories from the road.
And if Yellowstone’s on your list, don’t miss our comprehensive Yellowstone Travel Guide: your step-by-step companion to planning an unforgettable trip to Yellowstone National Park!
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