Bad Blood (Carreyrou)

Bad Blood:  Secets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
John Carreyrou, 2020
Knopf Doubleday
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525431992 


Summary
In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the next Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup "unicorn" promised to revolutionize the medical industry with its breakthrough device, which performed the whole range of laboratory tests from a single drop of blood.

Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at more than $9 billion, putting Holmes’s worth at an estimated $4.5 billion.

There was just one problem: The technology didn’t work.

Erroneous results put patients in danger, leading to misdiagnoses and unnecessary treatments. All the while, Holmes and her partner, Sunny Balwani, worked to silence anyone who voiced misgivings—from journalists to their own employees.

Rigorously reported and fearlessly written, Bad Blood is a gripping story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron—a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
John Carreyrou is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter at The Wall Street Journal. For his extensive coverage of Theranos, Inc., Carreyrou was awarded the George Polk Award for Financial Reporting, the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism and the Barlett & Steele Award for Investigative Journalism in 2016. Carreyrou lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
John Carreyrou tells [the story] virtually to perfection in Bad Blood, which really amounts to two books. The first is a chilling, third-person narrative of how Holmes came up with a fantastic idea that made her, for a while, the most successful woman entrepreneur in Silicon Valley…. The author's description of Holmes as a manic leader who turned coolly hostile when challenged is ripe material for a psychologist; Carreyrou wisely lets the evidence speak for itself…. In the second part of the book the author compellingly relates how he got involved, following a tip from a suspicious reader. His recounting of his efforts to track down sources… reads like a West Coast version of All the President's Men.
Roger Lowenstein - New York Times Book Review -


A great and at times almost unbelievable story…. Theranos may be the biggest case of corporate fraud since Enron.
New York Magazine


Gripping.… Riveting.… [Told] with a momentum worthy of a crime novel.
Los Angeles Review of Books


Riveting.… For all its boomtime feel, there are timeless aspects to Theranos’ story. Venality is age-old, but so is courage, and that of the ex-employees who blew the whistle on its deceptions is restorative.… And more than an honorable mention should go to Carreyrou, a dogged old-school reporter uncowed by Theranos’ legal hardball.
San Francisco Chronicle


A veritable page-turning..… Gripping..… Presents comprehensive evidence of the fraud perpetrated by Theranos chief executive Elizabeth Holmes.… Unveils many dark secrets of Theranos that have not previously been laid bare.
Nature


Riveting..… Compelling.… [Carreyrou’s] unmasking of Theranos is a tale of David and Goliath.
Financial Times


A fascinating true story that reads like a suspense novel. . . . A telling parable of Silicon Valley magical thinking.
Vogue
 

In Bad Blood, Carreyrou tells the full, gripping tale of how he slayed the ‘unicorn’ in a fascinating look at how buzz and billions can blind people to facts.
Marie Claire


A parable about Silicon Valley delusion. . . . Gossipy fun comes from seeing which high-profile man (James Mattis, Joe Biden) gets drawn into Holmes’ scammy web next.
Elle


A thorough and devastating piece of reporting that deserves a place alongside the masterworks of the inside-the-boardroom business genre. . . . He quietly compiles detail after damning detail into a fascinating narrative.
Weekly Standard (UK)


(Starred review) An apparent scientific breakthrough rests on a quicksand of deception in this riveting account of the rise and downfall of notorious biotech firm Theranos…. The result is a bracing cautionary tale about visionary entrepreneurship gone very wrong.
Publishers Weekly


[C]learly written and accessible…. [T]he company believed it could "fake-it-until-you-make-it," a Silicon Valley flaw, per Carreyrou. Using aggressive tactics and pit bull attorneys, Theranos squelched dissent and threatened the author. Highly recommended —Harry Charles, St. Louis
Library Journal


(Starred review) Crime thriller authors have nothing on Carreyrou's exquisite sense of suspenseful pacing and multifaceted character development in this riveting, read-in-one-sitting tour de force.... Carreyrou's commitment to unraveling Holmes' crimes was literally of life-saving value.
Booklist


A deep investigative report…. The author brilliantly captures the interpersonal melodrama, hidden agendas, gross misrepresentations, nepotism, and a host of delusions and lies…. [A] vivid, cinematic portrayal of serpentine Silicon Valley. [Future film planned.]
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for BAD BLOOD … then take off on your own:

1. Really, the primary question is simple: what in Carreyrou's book angered you most?

2. The second question, of course, is … how in God's name did Theranos get away with its scam for as long as it did? CEO Elizabeth Holmes even had a visit from the vice president of the United States, who, along with others, was completely taken in. Such icons of wisdom and gravitas, such as Henry Kissenger and George Schultz, sat on the board of directors. What took so long for anyone to catch on?

3. How would you describe Elizabeth Holmes—what drove her? And what enabled her to pull the wool over the eyes of so many, even including some of her own employees? What kind of personality, or personality disorder, does she exhibit?

4. Consider Walgreens' actions: the company was warned by a consultant not to go ahead with instore clinics. Why did it refuse to listen to the advice?

5. How does David Boies, the well-known (some might say infamous) lawyer come across in this telling?

6. Does anyone in Bad Blood (other than the author) emerge as a hero of sorts? What about Rupert Murdock? Does it take someone with his wealth and power to stand up to a person like Holmes? He was a stockholder, after all.

7. Talk about the author's dogged approach to uncovering this story.

8. Ultimately, does Bad Blood encompase a broader issue than the story of a single company gone bad?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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