Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

John Carreyrou

May 2018 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Will Damron

About this audiobook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The gripping story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos—one of the biggest corporate frauds in history—a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley, rigorously reported by the prize-winning journalist. With a new Afterword.

“Chilling ... Reads like a thriller ... Carreyrou tells [the Theranos story] virtually to perfection.” —The New York Times Book Review

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.

Ratings and reviews

Breathtaking true story. Excellent journalism. Very well written. I could not put it down. What's mind boggling is that the founders went to the extent of using humans as guinea pigs for personal gains. As a healthcare professional myself, I found Theranos to have crossed every single line of ethics. Makes you a very cynical person after reading these extremely disturbing facts.

Protest and boycott this rotten racist bigot darky thug bum rap propaganda hog wash trash nobody con bum tramp bimbo retch soundaral craphead nobody nobody nobody.

This is one of the most intriguing story I've ever read. Carreyrou's writing style transports you into intense moments during the rise and fall of Theranos. He did not spare any details and was even able to portray mundane litigation processes as a nail-biting battle zone. The narrator did a great job with his tone and inflection, I can't stop listening and was able to finish the book in less than 2 days. Overall, great investigative journalism and gives you great insight into the Wizard of Oz-esque world of Sillicon Valley.

About the author

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.