Audiobook "Zachary's Law" by Lisa Jackson

When a divorced mother’s young children are kidnapped by her ex-husband, Lauren Regis exhausts every possibility of finding her son and daughter — until Zachary Winters agrees to take the case. Zach operates under his own set of rules. But even his unconventional methods don’t include getting emotionally involved with the client…no matter how tempting.

Currently reading "Parce que je t'aime" by Guillaume Musso

Un livre profondément humain.
Un dénouement stupéfiant.

Layla, une petite fille de cinq ans, disparaît dans un centre commercial de Los Angeles. Brisés, ses parents finissent par se séparer.
Cinq ans plus tard, Layla est retrouvée à l'endroit exact où on avait perdu sa trace. Elle est vivante, mais reste plongée dans un étrange mutisme.
À la joie des retrouvailles, succèdent les interrogations. Où était Layla pendant toutes ces années ? Avec qui ? Et surtout : pourquoi est-elle revenue ?

Lost and Found (The English title)

A profoundly human story.

An astounding ending.

Layla, a five year old girl, disappears in a department store in Los Angeles. Devastated, her parents can’t manage to salvage their marriage and end up separating.
Five years later, Layla is found in the exact place where she was last seen. She is alive, but strangely mute.
After the joyous reunion, come the questions. Where was Layla all these years? Who was she with? And most importantly: why is she back?

Audiobook "Zoo" by James Patterson and Micahel Ledwidge

Total

For 36 years, James Patterson has written unputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book that surpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born to write.

World

All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear.

Destruction

With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide. With wildly inventive imagination and white-knuckle suspense that rivals Stephen King at his very best, James Patterson's ZOO is an epic, non-stop thrill-ride from "One of the best of the best." (TIME)

Audiobook "Come Home" by Lisa Scottoline

Lisa Scottoline delivers taut thrillers with a powerful emotional wallop in her New York Times bestsellers Save Me, Think Twice and Look Again. Now, with her new novel, COME HOME, she ratchets up the suspense with the riveting story of a mother who sacrifices her future for a child from her past.

Jill Farrow is a typical suburban mom, who has finally gotten her and her daughter's life back on track after a divorce. She is about to remarry a great guy, her job as a pediatrician fulfills her, though it is stressful, and her daughter Megan is a happily over-scheduled thirteen-year-old, juggling homework and swim team.
Jill's life is turned upside-down when her ex-stepdaughter, Abby, shows up on their doorstep late one night and delivers shocking news — Jill's ex-husband is dead. Abby insists that he was murdered and pleads with Jill to help find his killer. Jill reluctantly agrees to make a few inquiries, and discovers that things don't add up. As she digs deeper, her actions threaten to rip apart her new family, destroy their hard-earned happiness, and even endanger her own life. Yet, Jill can't turn her back on a child she loves and once called her own. COME HOME reads with the break-neck pace of a thriller, but also explores the definition of motherhood. It asks the questions: Do you ever stop being a mother? Can you ever have an ex-child? What are the limits and love of family?

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Audiobook "Triptych" by Karin Slaughter

When Atlanta police detective Michael Ormewood is called out to a murder scene at the notorious Grady Homes, he finds himself faced with one of the most brutal killings of his career: Aleesha Monroe is found in the stairwell in a pool of her own blood, her body horribly mutilated. As a one-off killing it’s shocking, but when it becomes clear that it’s just the latest in a series of similar attacks, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are called in, and Ormewood is forced into working with Special Agent Will Trent of the Criminal Apprehension Team — a man he instinctively dislikes. But then, only 24 hours later, the violence Michael sees around him every day explodes in his own back yard. And, it seems the mystery behind Monroe’s death is inextricably entangled with a past that refuses to stay buried…

Currently reading "Testominy" by Anita Shreve

At Avery Academy, a prestigious New England boarding school, the headmaster finds himself in possession of a videotape — a disaster in a small package. More shocking than the sexual acts recorded on the tape are the ages of the students. One girl is just fourteen.

A Pandora's box, the tape unleashes a storm of shame and recrimination throughout the small community. The men and women, teenagers and adults, involved in the scandal speak out to relate the events of that night and their aftermath. Mike Bordwin, the headmaster, struggles to contain the scandal before it destroys the school forever. Silas Quinney, a well-liked local boy, grapples with the tremendous consequences of his mistakes. Anna, his mother, confronts her own forbidden temptations. And Sienna, an enigmatic and troubled young woman, tries to put her past behind her.

For all the tape reveals, it provokes more questions than it answers. How could this have happened? Who is to blame? And can the fallout be contained or will the mistakes of one foolish moment ruin the futures of everyone involved? As the chorus of voices rises to a crescendo, it reveals the surprising truth of what happened that night, and how the lives touched by these events will be forever transformed.

Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her greatest work, Anita Shreve brings us a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compellingly explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, or the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.

Currently reading "Body Surfing"by Anita Shreve

At the age of twenty-nine, Sydney has already been once divorced and once widowed. Trying to regain her footing, she has answered an ad to tutor the teenage daughter of a well-to-do couple as they spend a sultry summer in their oceanfront New Hampshire cottage.

But when the Edwardses' two grown sons, Ben and Jeff, arrive at the beach house, Sydney finds herself caught up in a destructive web of old tensions and bitter divisions. As the brothers vie for her affections, the fragile existence Sydney has rebuilt is threatened.

With the subtle wit, lyrical language, and brilliant insight into the human heart that has led her to be called "an author at one with her métier" (Miami Herald), Shreve weaves a novel about marriage, family, and the supreme courage it takes to love.

Currently reading "Si c'était à refaire" by Marc Levy

I don't read many books in French any more. But Maïlys left this one here for me to read, so why not?

I figured I should include a summary in English, but I can't find one... I'll keep searching though...

Mushrooms in wine creamy sauce recipe.

It's been so long since I wrote a "personal post" on my blog (my apologies, I have been - uh- busy?) that I wasn't sure where to begin... Then I happened to make dinner. I found this gem of a recipe online not too long ago and decided to give it a chance. My oh my, it is yumi. I love everything in it: mushrooms, garlic, cream, and of course wine, and the result did not disappoint. One tip tough: I had to add more cream, it simply seemed to evaporate and could not get a creamy effect going. So have at it... And enjoy!

http://italianfoodies.ie/2009/01/28/pasta-with-mushroom-white-wine-and-cream/

Audiobook "Final Target" by Iris Johansen

Jessica Riley is a psychiatrist whose experience with catatonic trauma is personal as well as professional: she brought her beloved sister Melissa back from total mental withdrawal with her patience and skill. When the daughter of the president retreats into blankness after seeing her nanny and her Secret Service protector murdered, Jessica is summoned to treat the little girl. Although Jessica can't reach into her young patient's frightened mind, Melissa can--and only Melissa understands why Cassie's so afraid. When Michael Travis, the mysterious and not totally benign stranger who rescued Cassie from the kidnap-assassination that traumatized her, arrives at Jessica's Virginia estate, he's able to stop the child's nightmares long enough for Melissa to join Cassie in her self-imposed darkness and pull her back into the light. But the price he asks for his continued presence is one that Jessica, Melissa, and the president may not be able to meet. Is he an ally or an enemy? Even Melissa isn't sure--and her complicated feelings for Travis and Cassie are especially tortured because her unusual gifts allow her to see a bloody future for both of them, one she may not be able to prevent.

Audiobook "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson

James Patterson returns to the genre that made him famous with a thrilling teen detective series about the mysterious and magnificently wealthy Angel family...and the dark secrets they're keeping from one another.
On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: 1) She was the last person to see her parents alive. 2) The police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings. 3) She can't trust anyone—maybe not even herself. Having grown up under Malcolm and Maud's intense perfectionist demands, no child comes away undamaged. Tandy decides that she will have to clear the family name, but digging deeper into her powerful parents' affairs is a dangerous-and revealing-game. Who knows what the Angels are truly capable of?

Audiobook "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

 

Marriage can be a real killer. One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn, takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. As The Washington Post proclaimed, her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit with deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn.
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick Dunne’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick Dunne isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but hearing from Amy through flashbacks in her diary reveal the perky perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister Margo at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was left in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

Employing her trademark razor-sharp writing and assured psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

Currenty reading "V is for Vengeance" by Sue Grafton

A woman with a murky past who kills herself—or was it murder? A spoiled kid awash in gambling debt who thinks he can beat the system. A lovely woman whose life is about to splinter into a thousand fragments. A professional shoplifting ring working for the Mob, racking up millions from stolen goods. A wandering husband, rich and ruthless. A dirty cop so entrenched on the force he is immune to exposure. A sinister gangster, conscienceless and brutal. A lonely widower mourning the death of his lover, desperate for answers, which may be worse than the pain of his loss. A private detective, Kinsey Millhone, whose thirty-eighth-birthday gift is a punch in the face that leaves her with two black eyes and a busted nose.
And an elegant and powerful businessman whose dealings are definitely outside the law: the magus at the center of the web.
V: Victim. Violence, Vengeance.

Audiobook "Sing You Home" by Jodi Picoult

Zoe Baxter has spent ten years trying to get pregnant, and after multiple miscarriages and infertility issues, it looks like her dream is about to come true – she is seven months pregnant. But a terrible turn of events leads to a nightmare – one that takes away the baby she has already fallen for; and breaks apart her marriage to Max.

In the aftermath, she throws herself into her career as a music therapist – using music clinically to soothe burn victims in a hospital; to help Alzheimer’s patients connect with the present; to provide solace for hospice patients. When Vanessa – a guidance counselor -- asks her to work with a suicidal teen, their relationship moves from business to friendship and then, to Zoe’s surprise, blossoms into love. When Zoe allows herself to start thinking of having a family, again, she remembers that there are still frozen embryos that were never used by herself and Max.
Meanwhile, Max has found peace at the bottom of a bottle – until he is redeemed by an evangelical church, whose charismatic pastor – Clive Lincoln – has vowed to fight the “homosexual agenda” that has threatened traditional family values in America. But this mission becomes personal for Max, when Zoe and her same-sex partner say they want permission to raise his unborn child.
SING YOU HOME explores what it means to be gay in today’s world, and how reproductive science has outstripped the legal system. Are embryos people or property? What challenges do same-sex couples face when it comes to marriage and adoption? What happens when religion and sexual orientation – two issues that are supposed to be justice-blind – enter the courtroom? And most importantly, what constitutes a “traditional family” in today’s day and age?

Audiobook "You don't want to know" by Lisa Jackson

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson comes a gripping novel of suspense in which a mother’s worst fear is only the beginning of a terrifying nightmare…

In Ava’s dreams, her son, Noah, looks just the way she remembers him: a sweet two-year-old in rolled-up jeans and a red sweatshirt. When Ava wakes, the agonizing truth hits her all over again. Noah went missing two years ago, and his body has never been found. Almost everyone, including Ava’s semi-estranged husband, Wyatt, assumes the boy drowned after falling off the dock near their Church Island home.
Ava has spent most of the past two years in and out of Seattle mental institutions, shattered by grief and unable to recall the details of Noah’s disappearance. Now she’s back at Neptune’s Gate, the family estate she once intended to restore to its former grandeur. Slowly, her strength is returning. But as Ava’s mind comes back into focus, her suspicions grow. Despite their apparent concern, Ava can’t shake the feeling that her family, and her psychologist, know more than they’re saying. But are they really worried for her well-being—or anxious about what she might discover?
Unwilling to trust those around her, Ava secretly visits a hypnotist to try and restore her memories. But the strange visions and night terrors keep getting worse. Ava is sure she’s heard Noah crying in the nursery, and glimpsed him walking near the dock. Is she losing her mind, or is Noah still alive? Ava won’t stop until she gets answers, but the truth is more dangerous than she can imagine. And the price may be more than she ever thought to pay…

Audiobook "Killer Dreams" by Iris Johansen

Sophie Dunston, a top-notch sleep researcher, developed a drug to battle the insomnia from which her father and millions of others suffer. But her nefarious former boss and his cohorts have used the drug she created to alter the minds of ordinary people like her father, who killed his wife and threatened Sophie and her young son. With hardened heart, Sophie has one goal: to kill her former boss, since every attempt she's made to expose him to the authorities has failed. Just as she discovers that there are many victims of her nemesis' mind-controlling experiments, one shows up with the same murderous intention. Sophie is leery of Matt Royd, and his first thoughts are to use Sophie, the author of his nightmares, to destroy the others. Brutal and deadly himself, Royd leaves Sophie no choice but to cooperate. The danger increases tenfold as the hunters become the hunted in this suspenseful tale of nightmarish evil.

Audiobook "Lone Wolf" by Jodi Picoult

Edward Warren, 23, has been living in Thailand for five years, a prodigal son who left his family after an irreparable fight with his father, Luke. But he gets a frantic phone call: His dad lies comatose in a NH hospital, gravely injured in the same accident that has also injured his younger sister Cara.
Cara, 17, still holds a grudge against her brother, since his departure led to her parents’ divorce. In the aftermath, she’s lived with her father – an animal conservationist who became famous after living with a wild wolf pack in the Canadian wild. It is impossible for her to reconcile the still, broken man in the hospital bed with her vibrant, dynamic father.
With Luke’s chances for recovery dwindling, Cara wants to wait for a miracle. But Edward wants to terminate life support and donate his father’s organs. Is he motivated by altruism, or revenge? And to what lengths will his sister go to stop him from making an irrevocable decision?
LONE WOLF looks at the intersection between medical science and moral choices. If we can keep people who have no hope for recovery alive artificially, should they also be allowed to die artificially? Does the potential to save someone else’s life with a donated organ balance the act of hastening another’s death? And finally, when a father’s life hangs in the balance, which sibling should get to decide his fate?

Audiobook "Promise me" by Richard Paul Evans

Promise Me

As you read my story, there is something I want you to understand. That in spite of all the pain—past, present and that still to come—I wouldn’t have done anything differently. Nor would I trade the time I had with him for anything—except for what, in the end, I traded it for.

Summary
Beth Cardall has a secret. For eighteen years, she has had no choice but to keep it to herself, but on Christmas Eve 2008, all that is about to change.
For Beth, 1989 was a year marked by tragedy. Her life was falling apart: her six-year-old daughter, Charlotte, was suffering from an unidentifiable illness; her marriage transformed from a seemingly happy and loving relationship to one full of betrayal and pain; her job at the dry cleaners was increasingly at risk; and she had lost any ability to trust, to hope, or to believe in herself. Then, on Christmas Day, as she rushed through a blizzard to the nearest 7-Eleven, Beth encountered Matthew, a strikingly handsome, mysterious stranger, who would single-handedly change the course of her life.
Who is this man, and how does he seem to know so much about her? He pursues her relentlessly, and only after she’s fallen deeply in love with him does she learn his incredible secret, changing the world as she knows it, as well as her own destiny.

Audiobook "Shadow Zone" by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen

While mapping the ancient (now underwater) city of Marinth in the Mediterranean Sea, submersible designer Hannah Bryson discovers the shocking cause of the civilization's doom from a submerged fresco in the city center--the surrounding waters for hundreds of miles were afflicted with what we now call an Oxygen Minimum Zone or a "Shadow Zone", a condition in which oxygen has been leached from the waters, devastating plant and marine life. For an island dependent on such life for their survival, this caused a famine that many did not survive. In Marinth's case, it was caused by a rare algae. Hannah recovers samples of this algae and hands them off to a sister research vessel to take back to land for further analysis, but the samples never reach the lab. The truck en route to the vessel is brutally attacked. Not coincidentally, Kirov finally appears after disappearing for many months and Hannah suspects that the intrigue surrounding her discovery is what brought him back. Soon it becomes clear that someone has nefarious plans to build a master weapon out of this algae and in their desperate race to stop him, Hannah finds herself catapulted into an adventure in which she finds herself even doubting the intentions of her fiercest protector, Kirov.

Currently reading "Fragile" by Lisa Unger

Everybody knows everybody in The Hollows, a quaint, charming town outside of New York City. It’s a place where neighbors keep an eye on each other’s kids, where people say hello in the grocery store, and where high school cliques and antics are never quite forgotten. As a kid, Maggie found the microscope of small town life stifling. But as a wife and mother, she’s happily returned to The Hollows’ insular embrace. As a psychologist, her knowledge of family histories provides powerful insights into her patients’ lives. So when the girlfriend of her teenage son Rick disappears, Maggie’s intuitive gift proves useful to the case – and also dangerous.

Eerie parallels soon emerge between Charlene’s disappearance and the abduction of another local girl that shook the community when Maggie was a teenager. The investigation has her husband, Jones, the lead detective on the case, acting strangely. Rick, already a brooding teenager, becomes even more withdrawn. In a town where the past is always present, nobody is above suspicion, not even a son in the eyes of his father.
“I know how a moment can spiral out of control,” Jones says to a shocked Maggie, as he searches Rick’s room for incriminating evidence. “How the consequences of one careless action can cost you everything.”
As she tries to reassure him that Rick embodies his father in all of the important ways, Maggie realizes this might be exactly what Jones fears most. Determined to uncover the truth, Maggie pursues her own leads into Charlene’s disappearance and exposes a long-buried town secret – one that could destroy everything she holds dear. This thrilling novel about one community’s intricateyet fragile bonds will leave readers asking, “How well do I know the people I love?” and “How far would I go to protect them?”