Bad Blood

Title: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Author: John Carreyrou
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN: 9781524731656

Alethea’s Review (at age 18)

“If there was collateral damage on her way to riches and fame, so be it.”

20-year-old Elizabeth Holmes was going to change the world. She had dropped out of Stanford to pursue her dream of revolutionizing blood testing. Needles and labs were so old-school, she said. Her startup, Theranos, specialized in carrying out hundreds of different blood tests on a small device that you could put in your house. Best of all, the amount of blood required was almost negligible. You could draw it from your own finger and receive test results in minutes.

Silicon Valley went crazy for Theranos. It poured millions of dollars into Elizabeth’s work. Industry veterans were snatching up stocks in the hopes of profiting from this amazing product. Elizabeth appeared on talk shows and magazine covers. She got chummy with the president.

There was one problem. This incredible technology didn’t really exist.

John Carreyrou, the investigative journalist who eventually exposed the entire scheme, chronicles the unlikely rise and catastrophic fall of Theranos. Carreyrou weaves a fascinating story of power, technology, youth and ambition. His sources, many of them former Theranos employees, tell of a divided, manipulative and secretive company. They tell of how they helped their charismatic boss cheat, lie to and otherwise deceive the whole world.

This is the story of an ambitious young woman. It is the story of how she leveraged her connections to obtain funding and support. It is the story of how she kept her company so compartmentalized and terrified that even her own employees didn’t know what was really going on. It is like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

It is a story of ambition. Of deception. Of fear. But most of all it is a story of humanity.

Bad Blood reads like a novel, even though it is completely true. It is so bizarre and far-fetched that it feels like fiction. Carreyrou’s writing style, heavily influenced by his journalistic career, does not attempt to embellish the truth. His words are simple, and the concepts are explained in layman’s terms. There is little dialogue. And yet it is a story unlike anything I have ever read before.

It sucks you in. You will find yourself rooting for the characters — yes, even the charming, manipulative Elizabeth Holmes. Carreyrou has woven a story of the depths and the heights of the human spirit — a tale so extraordinary and yet so human.

Warning: Swearing, implied sex (living together), suicide, war, and of course fraud and deception abound. Probably alcohol at some point too.