AudioFile's Best Audiobooks of 2025

THE BIG FIX by John Mankiewicz, Jamie Napoli, Daniel Pyne, Katie Pyne, Aaron Lipstadt, read by Jon Hamm, Ana de la Reguera, and a Full Cast

Listeners are treated to the rich audio experience of being immersed in the uproar of a 1950s community as major deals unfold to bring the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. Listeners will be immersed in a rich audio world filled with revving engines, flying punches, gunshots, bodies dropping, and even a woman speaking from inside an iron lung. The result is an entertaining noir layered with history and surround sound.

THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans, read by Maggi-Meg Reed, Jane Oppenheimer, Carly Robins, David Pittu, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Mark Bramhall, Petrea Burchard, Robert Petkoff, Kimberly Farr, Peter Ganim, Jade Wheeler, Jim Seybert, Cerris Morgan-Moyer, et al.

Maggi-Meg Reed is at the top of her game in her nuanced portrayal of Sybil Van Antwerp. Sybil shares her life in letters to friends and family, as well as strangers and authors she admires. The thousands of letters she has written and received reveal lives connected by Sybil’s delicate thread. Thanks to outstanding narrations, responses to her letters allow each correspondent to emerge as a fully realized individual. Beautiful prose and amazing performances make this audiobook one listeners won’t want to miss.

THE DEVIL REACHED TOWARD THE SKY by Garrett M. Graff, read by Edoardo Ballerini and a Full Cast, Garrett M. Graff [Note]

This oral history of the Manhattan Project and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is dramatically made aural, thanks to the talents of some 30 narrators, plus the author. This audiobook features snippets of first-person accounts of those who lived the history. The individuals included number more than 450, and most of the narrators portray many characters, with Edoardo Ballerini narrating the connective tissue that binds them all together. Listeners may be so engrossed they don’t think of the production’s tremendous complexity—if they do, they’ll find it all the more astounding.

LES NORMAUX by Janine Janssen, S. Al Sabado, read by Janine Janssen, S. Al Sabado, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Jean Brassard, Xavier Casals, Alexander Cendese, Kyla Garcia, Ramón de Ocampo, Abby Manning, Christopher Salazar, André Santana, Devon Sorvari, Jeanne Syquia

This audiobook adaptation of the graphic novel features a stellar cast and vibrant soundtrack. Sébastien, portrayed by Ramón de Ocampo with a French accent, is freshly moved into a new apartment and ready to finally learn magic. Elia, depicted suavely by Fajer Al-Kaisi in an Italian accent, is the hot supermodel vampire next door. The banter between de Ocampo and Al-Kaisi is filled with tension. Music and sound effects immerse listeners in the rich setting of a supernatural Paris.

OF MONSTERS AND MAINFRAMES by Barbara Truelove, read by Chris Devon, Emana Rachelle, Charlie Albers, Eve Passeltiner, Zura Johnson, Cary Hite, Gail Shalan

This heartfelt sci-fi monster mash-up of an audiobook is stunningly narrated by an excellent ensemble. Charlie Albers voices DEMETER, a spaceship that travels between planets whose human passengers keep getting murdered through paranormal encounters. Albers’s impressive skill at differentiating voices enlivens the robotic DEMETER, who is filled with anxiety. This is a laugh-out-loud audiobook full of thrills and a touch of romance as DEMETER and her surviving passengers set out for revenge against Dracula.

SOUNDTRACK by Jason Reynolds, read by Nile Bullock, Mekhi Hewling, Jade Williams, Brandon Miles, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Amir Royale, and a Full Cast

A full cast gives a wonderfully vibrant performance of Jason Reynolds’s powerful story about found family and music. Nile Bullock heads up the ensemble as 18-year-old Stuyvesant (Stuy), an avid drummer. The uniformly excellent performances make the characters feel real, developed, and relatable, and the lively conversations among teenagers sound absolutely authentic. Justin Ellington’s extensive and essential musical score gives SOUNDTRACK its soundtrack. The result is a production that’s full of heart.