I’m delighted that The Killing Sense was in the Irish top ten for six weeks. What a lovely start to the year! Huge thanks to everyone who bought a copy🥂❤️🙏
On launch, The Killing Sense went straight into the Irish Times charts at No 3 in Original Fiction and into The Sunday Times chart at No 10 on a half weeks sales. And then it went to No 1 for two weeks!
The Sunday Times Charts/The Irish Times Chart January 25/26th 2025
#1 Bestseller in Easons – January 2025
The Killing Sense was a No 1 bestseller in Eason’s stores across the country for the first two weeks of the year which brought it straight to readers. Eason online is still the best place to buy it at a special discounted price with FREE delivery to Ireland & UK addresses, just click here.
Here is some of the recent coverage and fabulous reviews to date:
Literary Review – December 2024/January 2025
I was thrilled to discover that Natasha Cooper included The Killing Sense in her December 2024/January 2025 Crime Round-up for the Literary Review with this fabulous review 🙏 It’s not often commerical fiction gets coverage in a publication like this which includes articles on Tolkein’s Verse and ‘Lines of Insight – Mondrian: His Life, His Art, His Quest for the Absolute’.
‘Covering such disparate topics as coercive control, domestic abuse, serial killing, schoolgirl friendship and romance, The Killing Sense will please many readers. Fast-moving and full of charming descriptions of Paris, this is popular serial-killer fiction of the most effective kind.’ – Natasha Cooper
You can read the full review here:
https://literaryreview.co.uk/december-2024-january-2025-crime-round-up
The Gloss Magazine (Irish Times) – Books to Read in January – January 2nd
‘Dramatic and gripping’. Huge thanks to Edel Coffey for including The Killing Sense in her books to read in January in The Gloss Magazine, out with The Irish Times
https://thegloss.ie/whats-on-my-bedside-table-what-books-author-sam-blake-is-reading-now/
East Coast Radio with Declan Meehan – January 8th
It’s always a delight to be invited in for a chat with the wonderful Declan Meehan – Eastcoast Radio is literally four minutes from my house so I bring new meaning to local author! Eastcoast are hugely supportive and it’s fabulous to see the whole team when I drop in!
Independent.ie – Review by Myles McWeeney – January 9th
‘The plot and the clever tying-off of all the threads of the story of Kate Wilde’s Parisian holiday will very much appeal to readers of romantic mystery…. Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin is a one-woman literary dynamo’
Read the full review at:
Newstalk Radio – The Pat Kenny Show – January 22nd 2025
I had the loveliest chat with Pat Kenny – Pat read The Killing Sense ‘in jig-time’ and said he felt like he was back in Paris again and ‘can thoroughly recommend it’! Yay!
Pat’s daughter lived in Paris and he knows it well, so it was wonderful to hear that I brought it to life for him, and he loved the play on words in the title (thank you Atlantic Books!!) We talked about perfume and that creepy feeling when all your senses are on alert.
Here’s the link so you can listen back if you missed it 🎧
Irish Examiner – Review by Chloe Barrett – January 18th
‘Sam Blake, high in the ranks of Irish crime authors, is now undoubtedly a household name. With a fresh and thrilling novel being delivered to her readers annually, there are very few doing it like her. The Killing Sense is no exception to her past works — it is both the previously mentioned fresh and thrilling, and yet so much more. Stepping out of Blake’s usual territory, her newest novel has readers sauntering around the glamorous streets of Paris while enjoying the frequently mentioned fresh coffee and pastries. That is until things start getting slightly out of hand and, to a sudden extreme, downright terrifying.……when the story ends, only one word comes to mind: “Wow.”
Wow indeed!
Read the full review at:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-41553031.html
Westmeath Independent – Review by Anne Cunningham – January 18th
Delighted to see The Killing Sense described as a ‘a clever murder mystery set in the City of Light‘ in First Chapter with Anne Cunningham for the Westmeath Independent
Read more at:
https://www.westmeathindependent.ie/2025/01/18/this-week-a-tribute-to-a-champion-of-irish-writing/
Crime Time – To the Max: January Crime for 2025 with Maxim Jakubowski – January 12th
This review from Maxim Jakubowski – who was previously Chair of the Crime Writers Association and is a hugely respected reviewer at Crime Time magazine – is a big one for me. Not only does Maxim really know his crime, he was brought up in France, and knows Paris like the back of his hand. I cannot tell you how pleased I am – one of my secret fears was that I’d made a horrible mistake somewhere with the French details, but I think this means I passed that test!
‘An impeccably taut thriller that keep the pulse going throughout, Sam Blake’s latest novel ticks many boxes… Fast-paced and relentless, the plot sees danger multiply in Kate’s path, including an evocative segment set in the Paris sewers as the clever plot unfolds, resorting to various narrative voices but never faltering. Gripping stuff.’
Read the full review at:
https://www.crimetime.co.uk/to-the-max-january-crime-for-2025/
Belfast Telegraph – January 14th
My life in books with Sam Blake:
The Irish Times – Review by Declan Burke- January 26th
Huge thanks to Declan Burke who reviewed The Killing Sense in the best new crime fiction releases in The Irish Times last Sunday. I’m loving the ‘best new’ bit of that sentence!
The Big Issue – February 2025 – Patricia Scanlan’s Book Club
Thrilled to be included in Patricia Scanlan’s Book Club choices for February in The Big Issue. I’m in stellar company alongside so many other fabulous books!
he Gloss Magazine (Irish Times) February 2025 – The Books on my Bedside Table
Thank you to Edel Coffey and The Gloss Magazine for this fabulous feature in their February edition. That drawing actually looks a lot like my bedside table – just missing the 20 books piled haphazardly on the floor in front of it!
Listen In…
I’ve just discovered there’s big chunk of the audio book of The Killing Sense on Google Books, and it makes great listening…The audio released on 9th Jan and is really, really fabulous. I know I wrote it, but I’m totally drawn in by Fenella Woolgar’s voice, and she has an incredible gift for accents. If you’ve read The Killing Sense, see what you think, and if you haven’t, I hope the audio might tempt you.
Listen via Google books here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YVrPt6bnQ0
The Killing Sense Authored by Sam Blake Narrated by Fenella Woolgar
0:00 Intro
0:03 The Killing Sense
0:45 Prologue
4:06 Chapter 1
10:19 Chapter 2
15:45 Outro
PURCHASE ON GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS ►► https://g.co/booksYT/AQAAAEByw3KDEM
The audio book is available via Borrowbox at your library or in the usual places, (and it’s still only £2.99 on Kindle.)
If you haven’t had a chance yet, you can order a physical copy of The Killing Sense here. (Reduced price and free postage to UK and Ireland)
The Killing Sense Book Launch Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire – January 9th
Thank you so much to everyone who came to the launch of The Killing Sense and to Dubray Books for organising the sales – this gang of writers are just the best!
There’s such huge support between Irish writers, it was so lovely to see so many of the Murderesses, and tonight we were joined by Cecelia Ahern and Sinead Moriarty (at either end!) In the middle: L to R Amanda Cassidy, Andrea Mara, Sam Blake, Kitty Murphy, and Karen Perry.
We had a packed launch with 90+ people, French music, French flag themed balloon bouquets (blue, white and red) with Champagne bottles in the centre and little Eiffel Towers on the tables. Book launches are such a wonderful celebration and a chance to catch up with friends, I think I enjoyed this one more than any of the previous ones!
