C.B. Santore

C.B. Santore

C.B. Santore worked as an analyst, writer, and editor in the Washington, DC, area for more than 30 years. She began her career as an analyst at the CIA. In 2005, she transitioned to a freelance career offering writing and editing services for business and government customers, including editing the CIA’s daily publication, The World Intelligence Review. An avid reader of fiction, history, and biography, Ms. Santore began reviewing for the Washington Independent Review of Books in 2011. She holds a B.A. in history from Connecticut College, an M.A. in history from the University of Connecticut, and an M.B.A. from Virginia Tech. She is happily retired and residing in East Hampton, CT.


30 entries by C.B. Santore

Book Review

The Confidante

By Christopher C. Gorham

The Confidante

Meet a 20th-century trailblazer you’ve probably never heard of.

Book Review

American Confidential: Uncovering the Bizarre Story of Lee Harvey Oswald and His Mother

Adding questionable conjecture to the saga of JFK’s assassin.

Book Review

The Subversive Seventies

By Michael Hardt

The Subversive Seventies

An erudite exploration of a surprisingly pivotal decade.

Book Review

Tears Over Russia

By Lisa Brahin

Tears Over Russia

The horrors playing out today have deep roots in the past.

Book Review

Bruno Schulz: An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History

A gut-churning account of a visionary lost to the Holocaust.

Book Review

The Unwritten Book

By Samantha Hunt

The Unwritten Book

This unusual, challenging work will resonate with (some) readers.

Book Review

The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America

Meet a 20th-century trailblazer you’ve probably never heard of.

Book Review

Castaway Mountain

By Saumya Roy

Castaway Mountain

This powerful real-life tale from India reads like fiction.

Book Review

Wise Gals: The Spies Who Built the CIA and Changed the Future of Espionage

Meet the women who shaped the world of spycraft.

Book Review

Tears Over Russia: A Search for Family and the Legacy of Ukraine’s Pogroms

The horrors playing out today have deep roots in the past.

Book Review

The Unwritten Book: An Investigation

This unusual, challenging work will resonate with (some) readers.

Book Review

My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route

A wrenching account of what people will endure in search of a better life.

Book Review

Castaway Mountain: Love and Loss Among the Wastepickers of Mumbai

This powerful real-life tale from India reads like fiction.

Book Review

True or False

By Cindy L. Otis

True or False

A timely compendium for aspiring critical thinkers.

Book Review

Book Review

The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone

By Felicity McLean

The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone

Secrets bubble to the surface when three sisters disappear.

Book Review

pH: A Novel

By Nancy Lord

pH: A Novel

An intrepid — and flawed — biologist sounds the alarm about looming environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Alaska.

Book Review

The Dark Room

By Jonathan Moore

The Dark Room

This second installment of a three-part thriller series will keep you guessing until the very end.

Book Review

Something Will Happen, You’ll See

By Christos Ikonomou; translated by Karen Emmerich

Something Will Happen, You’ll See

Unrelentingly dark — though compassionately rendered — tales of Greece's financial crisis

Book Review

As Good as Dead: A Novel

By Elizabeth Evans

As Good as Dead: A Novel

A long-held secret is forced into the light by a fateful visit.

Book Review

A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention

An informative yet flawed discourse on neuroscience, distracted driving, and the journey through grief.

Book Review

The From-Aways: A Novel

Two women meet in a small town, both seeking answers to questions that surprise and hurt them.

Book Review

Terms & Conditions: A Novel

A hilarious take on what happens when an expert in drafting the fine print loses his memory

Book Review

The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking

Shining a light on the relationship between authors and alcohol.

Book Review

Man Alive!: A Novel

Mary Kay Zuravleff

Man Alive!: A Novel

A lightning strike sends one family off its comfortable axis.

Book Review

The Humanity Project

Jean Thompson

The Humanity Project

In a circle of connected characters, a novel based on a chilling murder explores the meaning of hope and redemption.

Book Review

Grant Ginder

Driver’s Education

Three generations refract their family’s history and realities through their own lenses in the author’s second novel.

Book Review

Karl Taro Greenfeld

Triburbia

A group of fathers in the trendy Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca share their stories in the author’s debut novel.

Book Review

John Brandon

A Million Heavens

The tense dance between destiny and free will moves through the author’s latest novel about the inhabitants — both human and not — of a small desert town.

Book Review

William Giraldi

Busy Monsters

A jilted bridegroom seeking lessons in love embarks on a riotous trail of mayhem and outlandish creatures.