Listen free for 30 days

  • Desperation

  • Written by: Stephen King
  • Narrated by: Stephen King
  • Length: 21 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (188 ratings)

1 credit a month, good for any title to download and keep.
The Plus Catalogue—listen all you want to thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts, and audiobooks.
$14.95 a month plus applicable taxes after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Desperation cover art

Desperation

Written by: Stephen King
Narrated by: Stephen King
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $43.85

Buy Now for $43.85

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

"The terror is relentless" (Publishers Weekly) in Stephen King's number-one national best seller about a little mining town, Desperation, that many will enter on their way to somewhere else. But getting out is not easy as it would seem....

Located off a desolate stretch of Interstate 50, Desperation, Nevada, has few connections with the rest of the world. It is a place, though, where the seams between worlds are thin. And it is a place where several travelers are abducted by Collie Entragian, the maniacal police officer of Desperation. Entragian uses various ploys for the abductions, from an arrest for drug possession to "rescuing" a family from a nonexistent gunman. There's something very wrong here, all right, and Entragian is only the surface of it.

The secrets embedded in Desperation's landscape and the evil that infects the town like some viral hot zone are both awesome and terrifying. But as one of the travelers, young David Carver, seems to know - though it scares him nearly to death to realize it - so are the forces summoned to combat them.

©1996 Stephen King. All rights reserved. (P)1996 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

What the critics say

"Stephen King's knack for turning the stray junk of pop culture into sick, darkly engrossing thrills has rarely been this much in evidence as in Desperation." ( Salon)

What listeners say about Desperation

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    119
  • 4 Stars
    48
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    111
  • 4 Stars
    32
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    106
  • 4 Stars
    40
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good, but not great

I am a complete Stephen King fan. That being said, although I love his writing, I am not a fan of his narration. Mr. King does not get into character the way many of his narrators do.
I also did not find that the characters in this book were as well defined as most of Stevens characters. still, an excellent listen enjoyed the book.

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book!!

I love this book! It is an amazing book to read, and is so cool to hear Stephen King himself narrate it. Any Stephen King fan needs to hear the audible audiobook. #Audible1

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good beginning but a little too weird afterwards

Desperation starts off really good, just like most Stephen King novels. The first third is very interesting and the mystery behind what is going on keeps your attention. However from there it starts to ramble and gets real weird. I've read most of his work and am used to King's weirder stuff but this one just wasn't doing it for me. Also I think it was a disservice for King to narrate it himself. A professional narrator may have elevated the book with a stronger performance. Kind isn't a bad narrator...he is just meh.

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Expected

Excellent as expected of King. The wheel of his mind continues to turn…and burn…and scare.
Enjoyed this read

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stephen King Should Read ALL His Books

I read this book when it was first published but listening to King read his own words made the story come alive. His reading of Bag of Bones is a must-listen, an Audible masterpiece.

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing as usual

These books are never a disappointment, love how Authors faith us brought into them.

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • JJ
  • 2022-09-08

Stick to writing

Stephen King needs to stick to writing, his nasal narrative of this book was grueling. The story was ok but wandered off so often I forgot what it was about.

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it

Great story great narration from king, I could’ve swore I heard faint background noise several times. Could also be the voices in my head

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Ken
  • 2022-08-06

starts off strong

Starts off really strong but lost me at the end. The end made it feel like a waste.

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Classic SK

Everything that we know and love about Stephen King novels wrapped up in this book. SK truly is the GOAT!

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Jo Green
  • Jo Green
  • 2016-02-20

Once again unabridged

I love unabridged books, and I am so glad Desperation is an unabridged option. I like this story better than The Regulators. I actually like to hear Steven King tell his own stories. He is not a professional reader, but his books "sound like him". Please don't ask me to explain, some of you may actually understand anyway. He is one of the original "kill off the good guy" writers, and that keeps me interested.

94 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Kitty
  • Kitty
  • 2016-02-06

Finally!

I've been waiting for this to be available as an unabridged audiobook for years! And read by the author just makes it even better! Listened to it over two days and was not disappointed.

31 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Aaron AuBuchon
  • Aaron AuBuchon
  • 2019-10-27

Multifaceted and multidimensional.

Stephen King's characters and plot devices serve to do more than speak and move the action forward, they also function as constant and profound reflections on the big (and somewhat smaller) questions that thoughtful people ponder their whole lives. Desperation seems to have at its heart a question: if we force ourselves to reconcile the teachings of western religious traditions with reality, we are left with a god that is fundamentally what? Cruel or kind? The novel doesn't bash you over the head with this question, and you can enjoy it without even considering that subtext, but it's there. The characters in Desperation are each fully realized and typically (for King) at least somewhat archetypal, the situations concocted to both tell a good story and to play around with fundamental ontological questions. In other words, King has a bunch of people who try to continue to be people when confronted by and plunged deeply into the center of a battle raging between good and evil that they don't comprehend. It is a full emotional ride; exhilarating, exhausting, funny, sad, poignant, heartfelt, heroic and heinous. It is grim and gruesome and hopeful and hilarious. It has you fully participating in the action and looking backwards and forwards to try to connect the dots. It is an immensely satisfying experience emotionally and intellectually.

A quick note about King's performance: others have said that King is a bad reader, but I disagree. He's clearly no actor, but his unidimensional delivery allows the characters to develop in interesting ways in the mind of the listener. In a lot of ways, him reading it is akin to how you might hear it in your head, and I really liked his delivery for that reason.

30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Laura Auerbach
  • Laura Auerbach
  • 2019-02-21

Awful narration.

I don’t know if this book is any good because I couldn’t get through it. SK’s narration was so poor that it became a distraction to the story itself. Don’t get me wrong-SK is an amazing writer. Just not an amazing narrative storyteller.

24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for J-Red
  • J-Red
  • 2016-04-08

King should write, not narrate.

I'm a fan of just about all things King. This was a good story, buy just OK for King. Maybe keep looking.

22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Chris
  • Chris
  • 2016-04-29

Pass on this one

I am a huge fan of Mr. King, but I did not like this book and had to force myself to keep listening. Not his usual but also his usual. I can't explain it...maybe the praying and God stuff which I do not expect out of him. It just seemed like a forced story. It was a decent book, just not a good one. If you need a good book of his try Duma Key, Dr. Sleep or Mr. Mercedes.

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Brianna Blacet
  • Brianna Blacet
  • 2016-07-22

Crashed and burned halfway through

This made me sad. I was loving it, and then it took a left turn and became a David and Goliath story. Did I miss something? Is Stephen King a religious zealot? Just left me wondering "WTF?" I was glad when it was finally over and I could move on with my life. On the plus side, it was fun listening to King read his own work.

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Reno
  • Reno
  • 2016-05-19

Another Dimension

If you like Kings more occult/metaphysical stories with evil entities like "It" or "Dreamcatcher" this is one of those, but a bit shorter. This one is got some very graphic horror and violence. I liked it a lot, well worth the money OR the credit!

17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for G. F.
  • G. F.
  • 2016-06-20

Not Kings best

he should stick with writing, narration wasn't great, story was poorly written in my opinion. I love all his other novels

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Samantha oneil
  • Samantha oneil
  • 2016-02-10

Desperation

I hope Stephen King will read all of his books. I've enjoyed this book. I think he does a great job, except Drunken Fireworks, that one is perfect the way it is.

15 people found this helpful