Title: Bad Blood
Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Author: John Carreyrou
Date: January 17, 2025
A friend in the library here at FCI Lompoc II recently read this book, and suggested it to me, and when someone recently returned it he checked it out for me. The author is a former Wall Street Journal reporter who originally broke the story in 2013, which helped launch all the regulatory investigations ultimately resulting in Theranos’ bankruptcy. I had followed the story real time, and also saw the movie on Netflix before self surrendering, but was curious.
The author clearly did his research for 3 1/2 years. Based on emails, former employee interviews, agency investigative reports and much more, this is a non fiction, corroborated book. As such he takes the reader into Elizabeth Holmes(CEO/Founder) childhood, psyche as a teen-ager/only year of college, and all the way to the end of the Company and criminal trial.
The book tells numerous tales about:
1) Elizabeth Holmes journey
2) The fraudulent blood testing schemes
3) The life cycle of Theranos
4) Investors and their experiences
The author did an excellent job providing details so the reader could form their own opinion despite all the “headline” evidence like 1 million disqualified blood tests which were revoked by the FDA, or investors losing $1 billion+.
For those who want an extraordinary read, and even more detailed facts of the Theranos story, I’d definitely recommend this book.
Normally when I write a book review I end with what I might use on the outside once released. My takeaway is to make sure you treat family and friends well as opposed to how they were treated here! BJ
