What to listen to on holiday this summer.

Audiobooks are booming. The digital revolution and our love of multitasking have come together to make them the fastest-growing format in book publishing. The guy next to you in the gym is now almost as likely to be pounding the treadmill to a classic thriller as the new track from Mr Kendrick Lamar. But audiobooks are also perfect for when you want maximum story without the epic effort. Long-haul flights are so much more productive now you can cram your smartphone with unabridged bestsellers and star-narrated classics. When you’re gripped by film fatigue and too bleary-eyed to read, audiobooks are the answer. Here are five recommendations for extra-long listens that will keep you on tenterhooks from take-off to touchdown.

By Mr JP Delaney

Quercus Publishing, 10hrs 5mins

The buzz psychological thriller of 2017 is set to follow The Girl On The Train and Gone Girl into cinemas. In the meantime, Mses Emilia Fox and Finty Williams (daughter of Dame Judi Dench) voice this coolly addictive audiobook version of a debut suspense novel with a timely premise: the compromises forced on young professionals by the pressures of the rental market. Beautiful and minimalist, One Folgate Street seems like the answer to every tenant’s dream, but the enigmatic architect has certain rules.

By Graham Greene

Audiogo, 9hrs 10mins

“All done and knuckledusted,” tweeted actor Mr Samuel West when he finished recording this classic gangster thriller. “Like being punched in the stomach until you can’t feel anything.” Mr Graham Greene’s noirish masterpiece is a rather more enjoyable, albeit tense, experience for the listener. With one of the best known openings in fiction, Brighton Rock quickly moves from the fresh and glittering facade of the holiday resort to the sleazy criminal underworld lurking behind the arcade machines and beneath the pier.

By Mr Nick Cave

Canongate Books, 8hrs 10mins

Embrace the groggy disorientation of long-haul flying with this immersive recording of rock star Mr Nick Cave’s darkly enigmatic comic novel. Mr Cave himself narrates and soundtracks the story of a horny door-to-door salesman, his loving son and a costumed psychopathic killer running rampant in the southeast of England. It’s a stylish, surreal and strangely beautiful listen, with a groundbreaking 3D audio spatial mix designed for headphones. It also contains one of the weirdest and greatest moments in contemporary literature: Mr Cave imagining his protagonist imagining Ms Avril Lavigne’s vagina.

By Messrs Tim Lebbon and Dirk Maggs

Audible, 4hrs 31mins

And Alien: River Of Pain by Messrs Christoper Golden and Dirk Maggs

Audible, 4hrs 54mins

Audible, the audiobook branch of Amazon, has branched out into original productions. If you’re a fan of the Alien franchise, back-to-back these intense cinematic dramatisations of two new stories set between the first two Alien films. Readers include Ms Anna Friel and Mr Philip Glenister, and director Mr Dirk Maggs has fully embraced the medium, saying it was “fascinating to focus on just how powerful the voice can be for non-human characters”, such as Ash, the rogue artificial intelligence unit out to secure a live alien sample.

By Mr Neil Gaiman

HarperAudio, 19hrs 40mins

Imagine the wisecracking, whisky-drinking guy sitting next to you on the plane is actually the Norse god Odin. This 10-anniversary, full-cast edition of Mr Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is riding high in the audiobook charts again, thanks to the new Amazon Prime TV series. Widely held to be Mr Gaiman’s masterpiece, it’s an epic roadtrip across an America where magic is real and ancient gods hang out in seedy bars. At nearly 20 hours, it’ll do your return flight, too, though its vibe is perhaps more 5.00am stopover.

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