Audiobooks discussion

I listen to audiobooks all week at work. I also read at home. However, my husband although highly educated "hates" reading. We are going on a road trip and he's agreed to give an audiobook a shot. So I gotta make sure it's a good one! I know it will need to be in the thriller, suspense, mystery genre. I can't see a legal thriller keeping his attention, too much back and forth dialogue. Any suggestions would be so appreciated!

I just finished Bad Country by CB McKenzie and really enjoyed it. The narrator did a fantastic job with voices. It's a mystery set in Arizona on the border to Mexico. The main character is a private investigator/bounty hunter working on a murder case. Of course I don't want to give spoilers...I was riveted. Also, there are subtle changes in the narration depending on who the main character, Rodeo, is speaking to. Rodeo is Indian/Mexican and figures out quickly which accent will get the most info out of someone. Very interesting, and a setting I knew nothin about.

I'm listening to The Girl with All the Gifts right now and it's very exciting and suspenseful and the narrator is wonderful

My husband loves the Longmire series, the first one is .
It takes place in Wyoming and it is great, the narrator is George Guidall and I think he does a fantastic job. Very good crime mystery with lots of humor too.

Thank you for your suggestions! All three of those options sound good. He lived in AZ as a kid so he'll like that setting pennygale. and I think the addition of some comedic one liners will help keep his attention Karen. lol sound like I'm talking about my kid! He's just a sports and politics guy, I've got to broaden those horizons 😊

My husband mostly listens to Sci-Fi or Fantasy...I have tons of recommendations for those types of books. As far as Mystery/Thriller, I enjoyed Dark Matter. The Jack Reacher books by Lee Child are enjoyable.

You might try anything by James Lee Burke narrated by Will Patton. Or you could try historical fiction that combines political intrigue plus battles like The Death of Kings.

As Karen recommended the Longmire series is quite good. A few books that I highly enjoyed and always recommend.
Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
these are all nonfiction but highly interesting.

Another book I just thought of that was really good Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

I loved the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy on audio!

Thank you everyone for such good suggestions! I'm really excited to try to convert my hubby to a book lover 😊

what kind of books does he like reading normally? maybe try something in that genre

for irreverent humor, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal is a funny listen - but you have to enjoy dark religious humor

If he likes older mystery/private eye books, I would recommend Grover Gardner narration of Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer books. They don't need to be read in order. He also narrates the Inspector Montalbano mysteries by Andrea Camilleri, which are very good police procedurals.

Brianna wrote: "I listen to audiobooks all week at work. I also read at home. However, my husband although highly educated "hates" reading. We are going on a road trip and he's agreed to give an audiobook a shot. ..."

Brianna, Aurelia here. A group of us came up with a list of iconic audiobooks last month, on which you're sure to find some that'll convert your husband - as well as few for you, perhaps. It's at https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I really liked a fun audio drama called Uncanny County http://uncannycounty.com/episodes/

The Longmire audios are pretty good. Heather Guidall is one of my favorite narrators. Mysteries by Robert Galbraith are good also.

Good luck in your "conversion" efforts! My husband's a big reader, but I have not had any luck getting him to embrace audiobooks. However, I did get him hooked on podcasts, so I guess I'll count that as a small victory.

I'd like to suggest The Boys in the Boat and Unbroken - I thought these were great. If he likes mysteries then I concur that the Robert Galbraith series is great. I'm just finishing up Magpie Murders and am really enjoying that one.

I would have to start with The Black Echo, the first Michael Connelly novel. It features Harry Bosch, a veteran who was a tunnel rat in Vietnam and is now LA's finest homicide detective. Maybe my favorite thing about his novels is that he doesn't write flat characters, but I can also say I've never read a Harry Bosch novel that I didn't like.

That's funny Kristie, I was just talking to him about trying a podcast yesterday 😊

Thank you for the suggestions Dana. I don't know about him but I'm definitely going to try Magpie Murders lol

I have read some Bosch books and now that you mention it I think he might like those as well

I JUST finished a road trip and listened to The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara it doesn't fit your genre per se but might be something you'd both like.

I personally find that certain genres that I prefer to read don't make the best audio-books and some books that I liked listening to were things that I'd not have enjoyed reading as much.

The history in The Killer Angels is timely given the removal of Confederate General statues in the southern states, the book is worthy of the Pulitzer it won and Stephen Hoye does a masterful job of reading it.

Hoye clearly differentiates many of the regional accents and even does a good job of separating younger from older speakers in a way that makes the story even more engaging.

The Martian by Andy Weir is the perfect audio book and was written by someone who worked at Lawrence Livermore Labs. He also reviewed each chapter with mathematicians, rocket scientists etc for accuracy. All the bad things that happen in the book are the consequence of a decision the main character made. The main character is pretty sarcastic too which lends to an entertaining and humorous story about an astronaut who is left for dead on Mars.

I also recently read a book called The Verdict by Nick Stone. A man wins an award in ethics in business and the next morning, after he checks out of his hotel room, the staff finds a dead body. It’s a pretty good book with not too many characters, but some good twists.

Both are great introductions to the audio book format.

OK, I'm an Arizona politics girl so I know he's going to love this suggestion. Don Winslow's series about the Mexican drug cartels which starts with The Power of the Dog and continues with The Cartel and the author told me himself that the 3rd book in the trilogy is in the works so he'll have something to look forward to. The narrator is Ray Porter who is awesome.

Since we're here, how did the road trip go and what book did you end up choosing? More importantly, what was your husband's reaction?