Audiobooks by Daniel Kraus

"A stylistically bold and innovative, cinematic horror novel about greed and paranoia, set amongst the grit and mud of the trenches in WW1. Perfect for fans of Stephen Graham Jones and Alma Katsu. From the New York Times bestselling author of Whalefall, and the co-author of The Shape of Water alongside Guillermo del Toro. Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of the Great War through his wits and deception, swindling fellow soldiers at every opportunity. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four other grunts are given a deadly mission: venture into the perilous No Man’s Land to euthanize a wounded comrade. What they find amid the ruined battlefield, however, is not a man in need of mercy but a fallen angel, seemingly struck down by artillery fire. This celestial being may hold the key to ending the brutal conflict, but only if the soldiers can suppress their individual desires and work together. As jealousy, greed, and paranoia take hold, the group is torn apart by their inner demons, threatening to turn their angelic encounter into a descent into hell. Angel Down plunges you into the heart of World War I and weaves a polyphonic tale of survival, supernatural wonder, and moral conflict."

Daniel Kraus (Author), Kirby Heyborne (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Sixth Nik

"Perfectly aligned for readers of Iain M. Banks’s The Culture series and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, The Sixth Nik is a galaxy spanning adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Angel Down and Whalefall. Deep into space, far past the triworld outposts, beyond range of the lethal trollbot internet, soars The Sickness: a ship woven from biomatter and capable of reacting to every need of its human crew. Sisilla, a nine-year-old cultist with a brain enhanced by arcane tech known as “niks,” has boarded to investigate the enigma of Fém—a plague-riddled planet that has abruptly gone rogue. The mysterious crew includes a faceless assassin, a beautiful engineer jigsawed by plastic surgery, a peyote-addicted medic, and—most lethal of all—a rugged, NonModded captain with a score to settle with Sisilla. Other dangers abound. A hacked robot begins to believe Sisilla is its daughter. The Sickness itself is mutating, possibly even pregnant. And the secret of Fém is more horrific than anyone could have imagined. To survive, Sisilla will need to forsake her predetermined fate and embrace the unknown."

Daniel Kraus (Author), Kimberly Woods (Narrator)

Audiobook

Whalefall: From the Pultizer Prize for Fiction winner, soon to be a major film from 20th Century Studios

"FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE WINNER, READ THE STORY THAT INSPIRED THE BLOCKBUSTER FILM, OUT THIS OCTOBER! THE PERFECT FATHER'S DAY GIFT 'Astoundingly great. Whalefall is, quite simply, a beautiful novel-a must-read story' - GILLIAN FLYNN 'A crazy, and crazily enjoyable, beat-the-clock adventure story' - NEW YORK TIMES 'Fantastically gripping . . . Smart, surreal, and powerfully humane' - OWEN KING 'There is nothing else quite like Whalefall' - NEW SCIENTIST The Martian meets 127 Hours in this powerfully humane thriller about a scuba diver who's been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool's errand: to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. He knows it's a long shot, but Jay feels it's the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad's death the previous year. The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid's tentacles and drawn into the whale's mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out - one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale. Suspenseful and cinematic, Whalefall is an 'astoundingly great' (Gillian Flynn, New York Times bestselling author) thriller about a young man who has given up on life, only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places."

Daniel Kraus (Author), Sam Stafford (Narrator)

Audiobook

Wrath

"New York Times bestselling coauthors Shäron Moalem and Daniel Kraus's terrifying sci-fi horror thriller takes place in a future that is much nearer than you think. It is a world where scientific experimentation is exploited for commercial profit and under-supervised cutting-edge technology creates a menace that threatens the very fabric of our existence. Wrath is the story of Sammy, a lab rat instilled with human genes whose supersized intelligence helps him to engineer his escape into the world outside the lab: a world vastly ill-equipped to deal with the menace he represents. Modified through advances that have boosted his awareness of humankind's cruelty in the name of science, Sammy has the potential to sire a rodent army capable of viciously overwhelming the human race. The key to Sammy's capture and humanity's salvation may be ten-year-old Dallas Underhill, whom Sammy adopts. But while Dallas and Sammy bond, time is running out for humankind: once Sammy sires his progeny, the exponential proliferation of his kind could spell the end of the world. For fans of dystopian works such as Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy and Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, and readers of Neal Stephenson, Michael Crichton, and Blake Crouch. This heart-pounding, science-based thriller takes place in a possibly all-too-soonreality where the hazards and consequences."

Daniel Kraus, Sharon Moalem (Author), T. Ryder Smith (Narrator)

Audiobook

1-2-3-4, I Declare a Thumb War

"#1 New York Times bestselling authors Lisi Harrison and Daniel Kraus deliver a slightly scary, extremely addictive, contemporary middle-grade book series. This first installment of Graveyard Girls is part mystery book and part friendship story, centered around five young teen girls in for the fright of their lives. Meet Whisper, Frannie, Sophie, Gemma, and Zuzu, five friends who tell eerie tales by night and navigate middle school drama by day. In Misery Falls, Oregon, it is the 100th anniversary of the electrocution of the town's most infamous killer, Silas Hoke, and the town is abuzz. When a mysterious text message leads the girls to the cemetery-where Silas Hoke is buried!-life can't get any creepier. Except, yes, it can, thanks to the surprise storyteller who meets them at the cemetery, inspires the first-ever meeting of the Graveyard Girls, and sets the stage for a terrifying tale from Whisper that they'll never forget. Book one in a five-book series, Graveyard Girls blends popular scary books for kids (think: Goosebumps) with strong teen girl characters into a fresh, genre-blending middle-grade series. For kids ages 9-12 in search of girl friendship stories and mystery books, you'll find horror and heartfelt relationships in 1-2-3-4, I Declare a Thumb War."

Daniel Kraus, Lisi Harrison (Author), Ana Evans (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Ghost That Ate Us: The Tragic True Story of the Burger City Poltergeist

"The Ghost that Ate Us is a true crime style mockumentary that details the events leading up to a massacre at a fast food restaurant. Using the backdrop of Jonny, Iowa, a truck stop town in a flyer over state, Kraus explores the many ways forgotten Americans with little money and less prospects can hasten their own doom. At turns darkly absurd and tragically grim this story will have you Googling to make sure nothing like this ever really happened because it just might be crazy enough to be true You remember the brutal crime, don't you? Maybe you read about it on Twitter. Maybe a friend sent you a news clip. Maybe you saw it on an episode of Spectral Journeys that night you were flipping through channels, unable to sleep. Maybe after reading the true story, you won't ever sleep again. On June 1, 2017, six people were killed at a Burger City franchise off I-80 near Jonny, Iowa. It was the bizarre and gruesome conclusion to nine months of alleged paranormal activity at the fast-food joint-events popularly known as "the Burger City Poltergeist." The story inspired Facebook memes, Twitter hashtags, Buzzfeed listicles, Saturday Night Live sketches, and more. But the case was never much more than a punchline…until bestselling writer Daniel Kraus (The Shape of Water, The Living Dead) decided to head to Iowa to dig up what really happened. Presented here is the definitive story of "the most exhaustively documented haunting in history," including-for the first time ever-interviews with every living survivor of the tragedy. The employees of Burger City were a family. They loved one another. At least, at the beginning. But love can make you do unspeakable things. "

Daniel Kraus (Author), Kirby Heyborne (Narrator)

Audiobook

They Stole Our Hearts

"The heart-pounding sequel to They Threw Us Away, about a group of teddy bears looking for a place to call home…and answers to life’s biggest questions. The teddies—clever Buddy, brave Sunny, sweet Sugar, and wise Reginald—have managed to find a child. Life with Darling is far better than any they’ve known. But something's not right—the promised bliss of Forever Sleep hasn’t come. And they are kept a secret from Darling’s mother, hidden underneath the child’s bed in the dusty darkness. Then the inevitable happens: Mama discovers the teddies. And like all adults they’ve met thus far, she responds with fear and anger. The teddies must watch as one of their friends is destroyed. The remaining trio barely escape, thrust back into a world that does not want them. Disillusioned and lost, the teddies embark on a journey back to the factory where they were created. En route, they find a civilization of discarded teddy bears. The comfort of a town of teddies has its allure…but the need for answers weighs heavy. And there’s something definitely off about these new teddies. Will our heroes accept their strange rules? Or must they dig deep for one more grand adventure to finally learn why they were thrown away?"

Daniel Kraus (Author), Kirby Heyborne (Narrator)

Audiobook

They Threw Us Away: The Teddies Saga

"'A deliciously macabre fairy tale, full of snuggles.” —Holly Black, award-winning author of Doll Bones and co-creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles Welcome to The Teddies Saga, a gripping new middle grade trilogy from New York Times-bestselling author Daniel Kraus. Buddy wakes up in the middle of a garbage dump, filled with a certain awareness: he’s a teddy bear; he spent time at a Store waiting for his future to begin; and he is meant for the loving arms of a child. Now he knows one more thing: Something has gone terribly wrong. Soon he finds other discarded teddies—Horace, Sugar, Sunny, and Reginald. Though they aren’t sure how their luck soured, they all agree that they need to get back to the Store if they’re ever to fulfill their destinies. So, they embark on a perilous trek across the dump and into the outer world. With ravenous rats, screeching gulls, and a menacing world in front of them, the teddies will need to overcome insurmountable challenges to find their way home. Equal parts Toy Story and Lord of the Flies, They Threw Us Away is the unforgettable start of a captivating series. A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company"

Daniel Kraus (Author), Kirby Heyborne (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Living Dead: A masterpiece of zombie horror, co-written by the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2026

"Brought to you by Penguin. It begins with one body. A pair of medical examiners find themselves facing a dead man who won’t stay dead. It spreads quickly. In a Midwestern trailer park, an African American teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic preaches the gospel of a new religion of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting, not knowing if anyone is watching, while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come. Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead. We think we know how this story ends. We. Are. Wrong. ©George A. Romero 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Daniel Kraus, George A. Romero (Author), Bruce Davison, Lori Cardille (Narrator)

Audiobook

Bent Heavens

"“Kraus gets under your skin with brutal, elegant efficiency. Necessarily horrifying, devastatingly timely.”—Kiersten White, New York Times-bestselling author of The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and Slayer From New York Times-bestselling author Daniel Kraus comes a breakneck, genre-defying YA thriller perfect for fans of Kiersten White, Neal Shusterman, and M. T. Anderson. Liv Fleming’s father went missing more than two years ago, not long after he claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Liv has long accepted that he’s dead, though that doesn’t mean she has given up their traditions. Every Sunday, she and her lifelong friend Doug Monk trudge through the woods to check the traps Lee left behind, traps he set to catch the aliens he so desperately believed were after him. But Liv is done with childhood fantasies. Done pretending she believes her father’s absurd theories. Done going through the motions for Doug’s sake. However, on the very day she chooses to destroy the traps, she discovers in one of them a creature so inhuman it can only be one thing. In that moment, she’s faced with a painful realization: her dad was telling the truth. And no one believed him. Now, she and Doug have a choice to make. They can turn the alien over to the authorities…or they can take matters into their own hands. On the heels of the worldwide success of The Shape of Water, Daniel Kraus returns with a horrifying and heartbreaking thriller about the lengths people go to find justice and the painful reality of grief. A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company “Bent Heavens is the darkest, angriest alien horror story that I've ever encountered. Hell. Yes.”—Stephanie Perkins, New York Times-bestselling author of There's Someone Inside Your House"

Daniel Kraus (Author), Amara Jasper (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blood Sugar

"From the dark imagination of New York Times bestselling novelist Daniel Kraus - co-author with Guillermo del Toro of THE SHAPE OF WATER (which as a film won the Academy Award for Best Picture) - comes a Halloween crime story that's like nothing you've ever heard before. WHEN TRICK OR TREAT BECOMES LIFE OR DEATH At the end of Yellow Street, in a ruined junkyard of a house, an angry outcast hatches a scheme to take revenge for all the wrongs he has suffered. With the help of three alienated neighborhood kids, he plans to hide razor blades, poison, drugs, and broken glass in Halloween candy and use the deadly treats to maim or kill dozens of innocent children. But as the clock ticks closer to sundown, will one of his helpers - an innocent himself, in his own streetwise way - carry out or defeat the plan? Told principally from the child's point of view, in a voice as startling and unforgettable as A Clockwork Orange, Kraus' novel is at once frightening and emotional, thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny. It'll make you rethink your concepts of family and loyalty and justice - and will leave you anxiously double-checking the wrappers on your Halloween candy for the rest of your days."

Daniel Kraus (Author), Kirby Heyborne (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Shape of Water

"*Winner of the 2018 Golden Globe Award for Best Director of a Motion Picture* *Winner of the 2018 Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director* Visionary storyteller Guillermo del Toro and celebrated author Daniel Kraus combine their estimable talent in this haunting, heartbreaking audiobook. The Shape of Water is set in Cold War-era Baltimore at the Occam Aerospace Research Center, which has recently received its most sensitive asset ever: an amphibious man captured in the Amazon. What unfolds is a stirring romance between the asset and one of the janitors on staff, a mute woman who uses sign language to communicate with the creature. Developed from the ground up as a bold two-tiered release—one story interpreted by two artists in the independent mediums of literature and film—The Shape of Water weaves together fantasy, horror, and romance to create a tale that is equally gripping on the big screen, and as an audio performance. Prepare for an experience unlike anything you've ever heard or seen. Praise for The Shape of Water audiobook: 'This is a beautifully written tale filled with lush descriptions and poetic language, perfect for savoring on audio. Listeners new to the story will be enchanted, but even those who've seen the movie will be drawn into this first-rate adaptation of the poignant tale.' — Booklist, starred review 'Jenna Lamia's luminous narration of a love like no other is profoundly affecting and transformative.' — AudioFile Magazine"

Daniel Kraus, Guillermo Del Toro (Author), Jenna Lamia (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks by Daniel Kraus

Join Our Community