Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Joyland cover art

Joyland

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Michael Kelly
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.00

Buy Now for £13.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

USA Noir cover art
Seasons Under Heaven cover art
The Amityville Horror cover art
The Witness cover art
When the Bough Breaks cover art
The Neighbor cover art
Carnal Innocence cover art
Lightning cover art
Something Wicked This Way Comes cover art
Boy's Life cover art
The Dark Light of Day cover art
The Long and Faraway Gone cover art

Summary

"I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts," says Stephen King, who has combined these elements into a wonderful new story. Joyland is a whodunit noir crime novel and a haunting ghost story set in the world of an amusement park.

It tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a 'carny' in small-town North Carolina and has to confront the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the way both will change his life forever. It is also a wonderful coming-of-age novel about friendship, loss, and your first heartbreak. Who dares enter the funhouse of fear?

©2013 Stephen King (P)2013 Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"A beautiful book, warm and honest, about a boy becoming a man, and his tempered transformation really does pack a punch… In short, Joyland is a joy." (Niall Alexander, Tor)
"An engrossing and ultimately uplifting tale" (Rhian Drinkwater, SFX)
" Joyland describes being young with the necessary vigour, and the slow agony with which a broken heart heals with the necessary tenderness." Laurence Phelan, The Independent)
"What makes King special is that he's an unusually imaginative horror writer who's as interested in characterisation as he is in fright." (Tom Cox, Daily Express)

More from the same

What listeners say about Joyland

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    498
  • 4 Stars
    162
  • 3 Stars
    59
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    492
  • 4 Stars
    149
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    450
  • 4 Stars
    150
  • 3 Stars
    67
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    5

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

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

King in his best Shawshank or Stand By Me mode

I was sad to finish reading this, as I was enjoying it so much! My only criticism was that it was too short. Oh and the front cover is horribly misleading.

This is a Coming Of Age story, not a ghost story or a thriller or a horror! Be warned!

It's all the more touching and beautiful because of it.

I loved this book! And the narration was some of the best I've heard.

I would recommend this to anyone!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

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

So so

I always expect to get swept away with a Stephen King audiobook, "Bag of Bones" being my all-time favourite. Maybe I was a bit spoiled in that I've only listened to really long versions of his books before, always going for at least over 12 hrs.

There just wasn't a lot to this story and without going into too much of the plot to spoil it, it did seem like, "Ooops, it's nearly the end I'd better make someone the murderer even though I've given no clues to it being this person throughout."

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

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

Disappointed

Any additional comments?

I was thrown (not for the first time but different author) by the amazing reviews on audible and a 4.4 overall rating for this book - putting into perspective, The Stand and 11.22.63 are both on 4.5. So I was quite excited.
What I experienced was much anticipation to begin with and a gradual feeling of 'what on earth is going on here, surely there's more to this story...'. I rewound so many times as I kept drifting off and wondered if (assumed tbh, I mean come on, this is Stephen King, it must be me that's wrong) I'd missed something really critical and clever but I just hadn't.
I don't understand the other reviews, sorry, as I didn't think this was particularly good. It's a 'coming of age' gentle story that I found dull. The narrator was okay but quite monotonous and much of the time sounded bored.
But I guess you can't please everyone all of the time.
Just to be clear - Stephen King is my favourite author of all time and I've had his next book preordered since it was advertised, ready to read in June. I have not written this lightly.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

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

Superb


Before I review this book it's only fair to say I am a huge SK fan.

Joyland is a crime thriller set in an amusement park in 1973 told (flashback style) by Dev in 2013.

This story really grabs you and is typical SK (in a good way).

Just a few more weeks to wait now for Doctor Sleep, but if you are a King (or crime) fan get this book... you won't regret it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

A great tale told well

If you could sum up Joyland in three words, what would they be?

An entrancing tale with suspense and nostalgia

Any additional comments?

Not the best Stephen King story ever, but his ability to take you on a complete and fulfilling trip into another time and place shines through as ever.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Decent book, lacklustre narration.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Decent, if a little by-the-numbers King fare, but the narration is awful. Michael Kelly seems disinterested a lot of the time, and his one-note performance had me struggling to keep focused on the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

Boring and pointless

I am a big fan of Stephen King but this is a pointless journey into nothing. I kept thinking... something is going to happen in a minute and then after three hours I started to worry that it was just going to potter along like this forever.

Very poor - I will never get those 7 hours back.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

Probably his best non- horror book?

Stephen King at his finest conjuring up characters you care about so much you have tears in your eyes when you finish the story.
Hats off the the narrator. I love his soft spoken voice and his accent, the latter adding so much to the story.
One to come back to again and again.
NB-just Googled the narrator and realised why I loved his voice. Michael Kelly is also the actor known for House of Cards.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Awesome read 👏 👌

Another Excellent quality book by the Master himself. gripping read throughout. Would highly recommend this title.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

An unexpected Joy

I recently listened to this audiobook after  first reading it 10 years ago when I saw it at the local supermarket and bought it for the cover lol this is a coming of age story and is exactly the kind of thing that king rights better than anybody else.

It was great to have the opportunity to revisit this, and the performance really serve the character.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!