Best Zombie Audiobooks

A round-up of the best audiobooks in the zombie-verse

Good zombie audiobooks are harder to find than a safe haven in the apocalypse. But fear not, zombistas. I'm on the case and growling to go.

It's unclear why zombies have triumphed in the (presumably slow and staggering) race to the top of the literary food chain. Perhaps it's that they are a nightmarish distortion of human beings and worse, that they turn loved ones into enemies.

What is certain is that there's no set template, no secret sauce for the best zombie audiobooks. Some start on day one of the outbreak, capturing the jarring upturn of everyday life. Others are set in an already ravaged post-apocalyptic world.

Main characters range from doctors and scientists to supermarket managers and soldiers.In each case, it’s thrilling to listen as people struggle to deal with the unprecedented threat.

What's truly fascinating is how versatile the zombie genre has become. The classics are there, with brave pairs or groups struggling to survive. But creatives can never stick to one concept and many have branched out to encompass post-zombie societies, classic literature and even comedy.

Here's a little list of some of the best zombie books on Audible and all the other audiobook places to get your pulse racing.

Top Zombie Audiobooks

Until the End of the World

Sarah Lyons Fleming

Read By

Julia Whelan

Julia Whelan delivers an outstandingly snarky performance as Cassie Forrest, a girl who can't catch a break. The day she decides to get her life back together, the world ends. Together with her three oldest friends and the guy she's just dumped (because life), Cassie must escape New York, marking the start of an adventure. Not only is this top of my list of best zombie apocalypse audiobooks, but it begins a double whammy of interconnected trilogies.

World War Z

Max Brooks

Read By

Christopher Ragland, Rupert Farley, Nigel Pilkington, Jennifer Woodward, David Thorpe, Adam Sims, Robert Slade

One of my favourite books of all time, this is styled as a report about a zombie war. Everything about this is epic. Multiple characters, a vast cast of narrators, a global view and even the blockbuster film it inspired, this is a monster novel.

Plague of the Dead

Z. A. Recht

Read By

Oliver Wyman

If you crave the action-packed quest for survival of Fear The Walking Dead, grab this first instalment of The Morningstar Strain series. Part pandemic, part zombpocalypse, the story spans continents and myriad intersecting storylines.

The Girl with All the Gifts

M.R. Carey

Read By

Finty Williams

Melanie is a very special girl. Bright and thoughtful, she loves to learn. She is also restrained from head to toe, imprisoned under military guard. Like I said, special. And her story is a chilling one, tinged with pathos and replete with thrills.

The Undead Day One

R.R. Haywood

Read By

Dan Morgan

Proving the best zombie audio books aren’t all doom and gloom is this very British dramedy. In it, the endearing main character Howie experiences a marked transformation from supermarket manager to zombie killer. Fans of Shawn of the Dead will enjoy this tongue in cheek zombie frolic from R R Haywood.

Prepared

Courtney Konstantin

Read By

Tess Irondale

Forget the walking dead, it's mothers protecting their young that present a true threat. Alex Duncan is one such mum. Faced with the zombie uprising, she turn to the advice of her deceased prepper dad in her fight to survive.

World Departed

Sarah Lyons Fleming

Read By

Roger Wayne, Teri Schnaubelt, Christian Barillas, Mia Gaskin

Sarah Lyons Fleming makes her second appearance on the list with a very different sort of zombie series from her previous works. What makes this interesting is the range of characters, all so different, but all learning to survive.

Positive

David Wellington

Read By

Nick Podehl

This is a far grittier take on the zombie-sphere, described by the publisher, quite aptly, as a Mad Max style world. It’s not my usual fare in terms of best zombie apocalypse audiobooks, but I wanted to include it for its unusual premise. For this is not a first, but second zombie plague.

Best of the Rest: Zombie Audiobooks

Hopefully this list will sate your craving for adventures of the undead. And just in case it didn’t, here are the honourable mentions in the zombie audiobooks category.

World Departed

Read By

Sarah Lyons Fleming

Roger Wayne, Teri Schnaubelt, Christian Barillas, Mia Gaskin

If Big Little Lies had zombies in it...