I’ve listed some before, but right now I think these are some of the top narrators working in audio.
1. Richard Ferrone. If you haven’t listened to a mystery/thriller narrated by Ferrone, go out and get one of John Sandford’s PREY novels. It’s a treat.
2. David Hartley-Margolin. Only discovered him recently, after reading Stephen King’s Duma Key. How good is Margolin? I wanted to send back Out Of Range, by C.J. Box, when I found out Margolin wasn’t the narrator. Unfortunately, there was no other option, because I enjoy the Joe Pickett series and wasn’t about to quit. Margolin is perfect for it, and I was happy to learn he returned with the following book in the series.
3. Jim Dale. The voice of Harry Potter (and I believe, the voiceover actor for the now-cancelled TV series, Pushing Daisies.) You can’t get any better when it comes to numerous voices, all distinct, and all very consistent. The Potter series would’ve been enjoyable if I could read text on the printed page. Dale made listening to it that much better.
4. Jim Ziger. The voice of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series, among others, he can nail down historical fiction, mysteries, thrillers, you name it. Does great with a small range of different voices, too. He’d be my pick to narrate my novel, Torn To Pieces.
5. Christopher Walker. I was disappointed when he was unable to continue reading the Jack Reacher series, written by Lee Child. Tom Stoddard was a jarring replacement.
6. Gregory Gorton. Brings Harry Dresden (The Dresden Files series) to life. And his humorous delivery and ability to capture any character’s emotion more than makes up for a semi-limited range of voices. But…Harry? Bob the skull? Michael? All great. Little less range with female characters, but by the time you realize it or make a comparison in your mind, you’re so deep in the narrative you hardly notice.
7. Scott Brick. Handles several series admirably, including Richard Montanari’s Jessica Balzano/Kevin Byrne books. Does the urban thing great, and brings grit to his city-oriented gigs that works quite well.
8. Victoria Gordon. Has the sarcastic edge to her voice that really makes the Anita Blake series fun to read. The inner thoughts of Blake are so smooth, they feel almost conversational.
9. Fred Major. Fred handled the first few Nelson DeMille John Corey novels (beginning with Plum Island.) He captured Corey’s rogue/cowboy cop attitude with a wise-ass delivery so well that it was a huge letdown when he couldn’t continue the series. Not sure what the reasoning was, but short of death, the publisher should have waited for him to be available if it meant keeping him at the mic.
10. Len Cariou. He’s Harry Bosch. ‘Nuff said. Another narrator who’d be extraordinarily difficult to replace because he’s so well-known for his work on Michael Connelly’s best-selling mystery series. You listen to the lines Bosch delivers via another narrator in Connelly’s other books, and it just isn’t the same.
