Bad Blood by John Carreyrou Book Review

The lowdown from Goodreads

Publication Date May 21, 2018

In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at $9 billion, putting Holmes’s worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn’t work.

For years, Holmes had been misleading investors, FDA officials, and her own employees. When Carreyrou, working at The Wall Street Journal, got a tip from a former Theranos employee and started asking questions, both Carreyrou and the Journal were threatened with lawsuits. Undaunted, the newspaper ran the first of dozens of Theranos articles in late 2015. By early 2017, the company’s value was zero and Holmes faced potential legal action from the government and her investors. Here is the riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a disturbing cautionary tale set amid the bold promises and gold-rush frenzy of Silicon Valley.

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou Book Review

Y’all this book is NUTS.

I chose the audio & for me, this is a perfect audiobook. Luckily, the narration is fantastic & the story moves quickly. I’m telling you, I couldn’t stop listening.

As soon as I saw the cover of Bad Blood, I’m intrigued. Secrets, lies & Silicon Valley? Let’s do it. I’m sad to say this sat on my Audible shelf for far too long. Finally, I picked it up & my life is changed. I can’t forget the story of Elizabeth Holmes. I sure as hell don’t want to.

Reporting at its Finest

With this article, John Carreyou basically sets Theranos on fire. But, there is so much to this story, John writes an entire book about Elizabeth Holmes trail of deceit & lies. If you’re into non-fiction at all, you’ve got to read this book. If you like a standout true crime story, Bad Blood is for you. Even if you like reading trash magazines like The Globe, read this book! Honestly, I can’t think of a reader who wouldn’t get something out of these pages.

THE VERDICT

I am Really Into This book. Bad Blood is straight to the top of my non-fiction recommendations. It’s a story you can’t believe & you can’t forget. Something about the narrative speaks to our society as a whole. Perhaps Elizabeth Holmes had great intentions of changing healthcare for the better. Rather than focus on achieving a steady, reliable and truthful product, did she get caught up in the whirlwind? There are still so many questions about this case. If you’re interested in learning more, be sure to check out The Dropout.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: JOHN CARREYROU

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou Book Review Author Bio Twitter — John Carreyrou | Twitter

John Carreyrou is a member of The Wall Street Journal’s investigative reporting team. He joined the Journal in 1999 and has been based in Brussels, Paris and New York for the paper.

Mr. Carreyrou has covered a number of topics at the Journal, ranging from Islamist terrorism when he was on assignment in Europe, to the pharmaceutical industry. In 2015, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting with several colleagues for a series of articles exposing fraud and abuse in Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly and disabled. Earlier in his career, he was also part of a Journal team that won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for its coverage of corporate scandals. His coverage of the Silicon Valley blood-testing company Theranos has won George Polk, Gerald Loeb and Barlett & Steele awards.

Born in New York and raised in Paris, Mr. Carreyrou received a bachelor’s degree from Duke University. He currently resides in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.