Audiobooks Like The Lost Symbol

Paul Michael narrates Dan Brown's Washington DC thriller with the same brisk, scene-to-scene momentum that makes the Langdon novels work on audio — the 18-hour runtime never slows for the expository material because Michael delivers the code-breaking sequences with the same urgency as the chase sequences. All ten picks run near that length, and the recommendations pull from across literary mystery and conspiracy thriller, drawing on the four award-winning titles and the highly-rated pick that share the same need-to-keep-listening propulsion.

10 audiobooks for fans of The Lost Symbol

  1. 1
    Career of Evil cover

    Career of Evil

    Cormoran Strike • Book 3

    by Robert Galbraith

    Narrated by Robert Glenister

    4.62 ABR Score (248.8K ratings)
    ★ 4.22 Goodreads (231.1K) ★ 4.64 Audible (17.7K)
    17h 57m listening time • Released 2015
  2. 2
    We Are All Guilty Here cover

    We Are All Guilty Here

    North Falls • Book 1

    by Karin Slaughter

    Narrated by Kathleen Early

    4.60 ABR Score (144.1K ratings)
    ★ 4.21 Goodreads (133.0K) ★ 4.67 Audible (11.1K)
    16h 33m listening time • Released 2025
  3. 3
    Rebecca cover

    Rebecca

    by Daphne du Maurier

    Narrated by Anna Massey

    4.57 ABR Score (741.5K ratings)
    ★ 4.25 Goodreads (730.8K) ★ 4.57 Audible (10.7K)
    14h 48m listening time • Released 2014

    Du Maurier's gothic masterpiece — an unnamed narrator marries a widower and is haunted by his perfect first wife, in the most atmospheric mystery ever written.

  4. 4
    Sycamore Row cover

    Sycamore Row

    Jake Brigance • Book 2

    by John Grisham

    Narrated by Michael Beck

    4.53 ABR Score (170.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.1 Goodreads (141.1K) ★ 4.6 Audible (29.5K)
    20h 46m listening time • Released 2013
  5. 5
    The Harry Bosch Novels: The Black Echo, The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde (Harry Bosch Series) cover

    The Harry Bosch Novels: The Black Echo, The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde (Harry Bosch Series)

    Harry Bosch #1-3 • Book 3

    by Michael Connelly

    Narrated by Dick Hill

    4.42 ABR Score (15.7K ratings)
    ★ 4.37 Goodreads (3.9K) ★ 4.52 Audible (11.8K)
    14h 26m listening time • Released 2008

    Dick Hill's gravelly, world-weary performance makes these three crime novels feel like a veteran detective confessing directly to you. Connelly's Los Angeles obsession paired with Hill's narration creates something rare: a procedural that's genuinely hard to stop listening to.

  6. 6
    The Silkworm cover

    The Silkworm

    Cormoran Strike • Book 2

    by Robert Galbraith, J.K. Rowling

    Narrated by Robert Glenister

    4.40 ABR Score (319.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.05 Goodreads (296.4K) ★ 4.49 Audible (23.2K)
    17h 17m listening time • Released 2014
  7. 7
    In Cold Blood cover

    In Cold Blood

    by Truman Capote

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    4.37 ABR Score (751.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.09 Goodreads (735.8K) ★ 4.44 Audible (15.6K)
    14h 27m listening time • Released 2006

    Capote invented the true crime genre with this account of a Kansas family's murder — reported with a novelist's precision and a profound moral weight.

  8. 8
    Moonflower Murders cover

    Moonflower Murders

    Susan Ryeland • Book 2

    by Anthony Horowitz

    Narrated by Lesley Manville, Allan Corduner

    4.36 ABR Score (71.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.06 Goodreads (66.9K) ★ 4.57 Audible (4.5K)
    18h 28m listening time • Released 2020
  9. 9
    The Alienist cover

    The Alienist

    Laszlo Kreizler and John Schuyler Moore • Book 1

    by Caleb Carr

    Narrated by George Guidall

    4.34 ABR Score (190.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.06 Goodreads (182.1K) ★ 4.49 Audible (7.9K)
    20h listening time • Released 2012

    Carr's Victorian New York procedural follows a criminal psychologist before the word existed — richly researched, genuinely creepy, and compulsively readable.

  10. 10
    The Cuckoo's Calling cover

    The Cuckoo's Calling

    Cormoran Strike • Book 1

    by Robert Galbraith

    Narrated by Robert Glenister

    4.33 ABR Score (668.5K ratings)
    ★ 3.89 Goodreads (630.7K) ★ 4.45 Audible (37.8K)
    15h 54m listening time • Released 2013

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →