Nightmare Alley Audiobook By William Lindsay Gresham cover art

Nightmare Alley

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Nightmare Alley

By: William Lindsay Gresham
Narrated by: Adam Sims
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.21

Buy for $24.21

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Nightmare Alley is American author William Lindsay Gresham’s first and best-known work. The novel - most admired by noir fiction fans - was published in 1946, adapted into a film in 1947 starring Tyrone Power and subsequently printed as a graphic novel by Spain Rodriquez. During the 1940s Gresham worked as an editor for a genuine crime pulp magazine in New York, during which period he wrote this book; characters range from hustlers to Machiavellian femme fatales in a dark world of show business. Stan Carlisle is an ambitious ‘carny’ who eventually becomes a spiritualist for the rich and gullible. It appears that the world is at his feet, but not everything is as it seems….

Download the accompanying reference guide.©1946 Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents (P)2011 Naxos AudioBooks Crime Crime Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Hard-Boiled Mystery Noir Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Witty

Editorial reviews

Gresham's little-remembered noir masterpiece deserves a whole new generation of readers, and Adam Sims's dark performance is a marvelous way to reach them. The story begins in a carnival, which provides a narrator's dream assortment of characters. Though some are unmistakably comic, Gresham's vision is anything but lighthearted. His protagonist, Stanley Carlisle, is a mind reader cum spiritualist who preys on the lonely and despairing without recognizing the blackness at his own center. Sims is alive to the tragedy of Carlisle but never seeks to soften him. He coldly follows Carlisle on his unmerciful path - right to the devastating but inevitable end.

People who viewed this also viewed...

Nightmare Alley Audiobook By William Lindsay Gresham cover art
Nightmare Alley By: William Lindsay Gresham
The Power Broker Audiobook By Robert A. Caro cover art
The Power Broker By: Robert A. Caro
Unique Storyline • Descriptive Writing • Excellent Narration • Interesting Story • Psychological Thriller
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Big big fan of the Tyrone Power Joan Blondell movie just stumbled across the book. I absolutely loved it and the narration was some of the best I've heard.

I could not stop listening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sims does a fantastic job with the characters. The story really comes alive. The book itself holds up really well for 1946 noir. This is worth full price.

Great narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Unique Storyline as well as characters and very descriptive writing. I had seen movie seen which correlated

Rather lengthy but excellent writing with incredible characters and had seen the movie

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
then drags a bit after. makes some confusing jumps in time. great narrator. its ok.

starts good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is great. The story is HA HA( Not) funny. And they ending, I will listen again, just for the end.!
Well worth it!
ALL OF IT!.

superbly surprised

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I don't know if I really like this one or not. it is very well written with detailed visuals. the scene segues are a little tough to catch and you have to pay attention to follow the thread of the plot and who going where. it took me a while to get used to Mr gresham's writing. the finale befits the story. I thought the narrator was really excellent. it's the late 1940s and the world was certainly different.

Carny Chaos

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Classic style, amazing narrator, sorry has interesting turns. Reminds me of James M. Cain's stories.

very nice noir

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

Where does Nightmare Alley rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's in my top 5.

What about Adam Sims’s performance did you like?

There's a moment where Stanton loses it for a bit and starts laughing. I've listened to that part in this over and over. It was a caliber of performance that I've never even seen in stage plays. I was in awe of the entire thing.

Step right up, ladies & gentlemen...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Performance was awesome but story was all over the place. The premises was good but it lacked alot.

A bore

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It was an interesting story about the sleezy side of carneys and the characters on the make. I felt that it dragged in the middle but I have to admit I didn't see the ending coming so it redeemed itself somewhat. The narrator was excellent and able to fall in to many different characters. It was well written but very depressing but if you are interested in learning how cons work and how karma can bite you in the butt it's worth reading.

Bleak

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews