Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup reads like a mystery but is based on fact. John Carreyrou, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, provides a thorough look at Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes. Fraud and manipulation are the tools Holmes used to convince big name donors to invest in her startup that she boasted would radically change the way blood testing is done in the medical industry.
Holmes is portrayed as an attractive, brilliant Stanford University student who left school to pursue her vision of producing a compact, in-home blood testing device. In her early 20s she managed to create a company valued at more than $9 billion.
Suspense is created through Carreyrou’s extensive research and interviews indicating deceit, poor management and greed. His efforts to convey the truth are nearly thwarted multiple times by Holmes, Sunny Balwani (chief operating officer and Holmes’ boyfriend) and their attorneys. Further roadblocks include well-respected, leaders and business gurus who refused to consider Holmes as anything other than a medical-startup miracle worker. The board included, among others, former Secretary of State George Schultz and Gen. James Mattis, who later served as Secretary of Defense.
Despite the incredulity of many Theranos employees and a lawsuit by a vindictive former neighbor, Holmes was able to secure contracts with Walgreen’s and Safeway to place Theranos products in stores without producing a successful prototype.
Holmes acted on the theory that people believe what they want to believe. True, until they no longer can.
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Four-and-a-half bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2018
339 pages (includes notes and index)
The Blue Page Special 