Thrillers are a great escape. They can whisk you around the world and beyond without you ever having to leave your home or pack a suitcase. (And if you are taking a trip, they're great companions—that's two trips in one!) But these globe-spanning listens are far from paradise.

Chilling and suspenseful, our picks for the best foreign thrillers offer a nail-biting tour around the globe, from an assassin-packed train in Japan and a secret library in Spain to a Croatian tale of revenge and Nigeria's scariest serial-killing sister.

Before we begin our journey, let's give a shout-out to the translators whose meticulous work make it possible for us to enjoy these stories, and to the talented narrators who bring them so authentically to life. Here we go!

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The Anomaly
The Bat
Bullet Train
Confessions
Death Comes in Through the Kitchen
Death Notice
Devil's Peak
Flowers over the Inferno
The Frangipani Tree Mystery
The Hangman's Daughter
A Man with One of Those Faces
My Sister, the Serial Killer
The Old Woman with the Knife
Out
People Like Them
The Shadow of the Wind
Smaller and Smaller Circles
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil
We Trade Our Night for Someone Else's Day
The Woman in the Purple Skirt