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10 Audiobook Thrillers With Complicated Relationships

Chris M. Arnone

Senior Contributor

The son of a librarian, Chris M. Arnone's love of books was as inevitable as gravity. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri - Kansas City. His novel, The Hermes Protocol, was published by Castle Bridge Media in 2023 and the next book in that series is due out in winter 2024. His work can also be found in Adelaide Literary Magazine and FEED Lit Mag. You can find him writing more books, poetry, and acting in Kansas City. You can also follow him on social media (Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter, website).

Podium Audio.

Fresh out of high school and off to college, Cassie thought she had the world by its tail. Until she met Mike who swept her off her feet into marriage. Cassie discovers his dark side and is left burned and scarred for the rest of her life. Cassie isn't one to wallow in misery and sets out to help other women avoid her past experience. Her world is turned upside down again when an abusive husband kidnaps a client’s daughter. It’s up to Cassie to find the girl before it's too late - the only trick is to survive.

It was Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick. But what if Colonel Mustard is married to Miss Scarlett, but he’s actually in love with Professor Plum? And Miss Scarlett is carrying Mr. Green’s baby? Suddenly, the game of Clue just got a lot more thrilling. If thrillers with complicated relationships are your cup of murdery tea, here are some audiobook thrillers to keep you in suspense.

behind her eyes cover imageBehind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Louise is a single mom who falls for her boss, David. If that wasn’t complicated enough, she then befriends David’s wife, Adele. As the love triangle squeezes into a tighter knot, Louise discovers darker secrets bubbling under the surface of David and Adele’s marriage.

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Anne and Marco are pretty happy. Their marriage is blossoming, and they have a beautiful young daughter. But during a dinner party next door, a terrible crime occurs, and the ensuing investigation brings Anne’s and Marco’s long-buried secrets to the surface, secrets they’ve even kept from each other.

Don’t Let Go by Harlen Coben

Years ago, when Nap Dumas was in high school, his brother and brother’s girlfriend were found dead. At the same time, Nap’s girlfriend up and vanished. Now, Nap is investigating a murder, and finds the vanished girlfriend’s fingerprints all over the case. Not only is he investigating a murder but his own complicated past to get to the bottom of it.

Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley

Joe King Oliver has the difficult job of being a black police officer. Or at least he did, before the very officers he worked with charged him with a crime he didn’t commit. As always, Mosley weaves racial tensions into his thrilling work, complicated by Oliver’s friends and coworkers turning against him.

The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter

Carter’s protagonist, Talcott Garland, is a law professor investigating the death of his father, Judge Oliver Garland. The judge was publicly humiliated by scandal during the hearings for his Supreme Court nominations, so now Talcott is wading through the waters of both the public and private complications of the late Judge Garland to find how he died.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Is there a better poster child for audiobook thrillers with complicated relationships? Amy Dunne is missing, and the obvious suspect is her husband, Nick. As Flynn’s thrilling novel of unreliable narrators unfolds, secrets both Amy and Nick have been keeping are revealed, leaving readers unsure who to root for, if anyone.

A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes

After Jackson is scammed by his girlfriend and her husband, Himes’s protagonist enlists his twin brother in this thrilling revenge tale. Harlem not only acts as a great backdrop, but nearly as a character unto itself. And if that’s not enough, the audiobook is narrated by none other than Samuel L. Jackson.

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

How do you catch a serial killer? Enlist another serial killer, obviously. In this classic of the thriller genre, FBI agent Clarice Starling is hunting a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill. Then the trail goes cold, she turns to the captured cannibal Hannibal Lecter for assistance. But as Starling and Lecter grow closer, who is really using whom in the chase for Buffalo Bill?

Triptych by Karin Slaughter

Someone is brutally murdering women in Atlanta. Detective Michael Trent is on the case, but he’s partnered with his former lover turned enemy, vice cop Angie Polaski. Throw in an ex-con whose on the case, and a killer that forces everyone to blur the lines of legality, and you have a great audiobook thriller.

The Wife Between Us coverThe Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

I mean, audiobook thriller with complicated relationships is pretty much right there in title, right? Hendricks and Pekkanen tag-team to deliver a story of Vanessa, who is stalking her ex-husband’s fiancée Nellie. As the date of the wedding approaches, Vanessa inches closer and closer to sinister action.


There’s nothing like a good thriller to distract from reality, and these audiobook thrillers are sure to keep you distracted on your commute or mowing the lawn or if you just want to relax and rest your eyes. So get downloading!