Bad Blood

Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

By: John Carreyrou

Narrated by: Will Damron

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.

Extreme retaliation against former employees

Theranos lab employees were under continuous observation - camera surveillance, email scrutiny, the works. Fake baritone voiced Elizabeth Holmes and her cruel boyfriend Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani held them tightly in mortal fear, pursuing the few who thought they could resign and rebuild their lives. No lab employee could be allowed to expose the fraud.

The multi-billion dollar secret at the time: Theranos was phony baloney; it had no device that could run all types of blood tests with just a drop of blood and then provide instant accurate test results. It didn't have anything to change the world. All those Theranos devices being used by the U.S. military in Afghanistan - pure fabrication. But nobody could prove it wasn't being done and besides, the board of directors included: George Shultz; James Mattis; Henry Kissinger; and many other famous heavy hitters.

The suspense built and built. Author and narrator matched up nicely, building strength as the book progressed. They made me feel the fear a Theranos lab technician who had to pretend miracles happened. One former lab director was driven to suicide, a mere pawn in this game. Former lab employees discovered the hard way they could run but not hide (those who tried to hide were found by Theranos investigators).

George Shultz's grandson was caught more than once trying flip his grandfather, and his family was made to spend an obscene amount (I think it was $400K) trying to defend against Theranos lawsuits. Legal bills were only part of the harassment. Holmes and her crew ruined people's reputations and careers.

Elizabeth Holmes remains a mystery. Carreyrou says she was an outstanding sales person. She relieved big money out of sophisticated investors - $150 million from the Walton family, $121 million from Rupurt Murdoch, $100 million from Betsy DeVos (her father-in-law was co-founder of Amway), $120 million from the Cox family that controls Cox Media Group, and so on.

Bad Blood shows how an apex con artist dupes important people by appealing to ego and greed. Jim Cramer said her company was changing healthcare the same way Amazon changed retail. President Clinton publicly asked her for advice on reducing inequality. She made the Time Magazine 100 List. She talked pure nonsense without interviewers being aware of it. Instead they probably saw a female Steve Jobs; we all wanted to see a female Steve Jobs. Although it tries, the book doesn't explain what Holmes said and did behind closed doors that captured sophisticated investors and government leaders. It's still a mystery. I keep thinking about it.

In retrospect, all those employees who lived in fear were never the target. Holmes targeted billionaires, and to a lesser extent, famous people with big egos. Holmes dealt with these people directly. She made them wait; she made sure her security detail was more numerous than theirs; she decided when the meeting was over; she put the pants on them and dipped them. How on earth did she pull it all off?

True crime is an exciting genre, and this book succeeds for two reasons: 1. The author was part of the story from the beginning, as he understood a crime was occurring and the villain worked at shutting him up. 2. The story was told from the perspective of lab employees living the nightmare of running from a monster that gives pursuit.

(Separately, I keep thinking about the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) Theranos used on employees, how they weaponized this basic legal contract. One can imagine why lab scientists and technicians signed since this was a condition of employment.)

Thank the gods for real journalism in this era

The narration was spot on and Carreyrou kept me hooked for days. Do not skip this one.

There was an amazing passage in this book that could've been talking about anyone from the current administration. Unsurprisingly, many conservatives directly involved in the Trump administration had joined this cult of greed and lies then helped to prop up this destructive farce. I can't call it a company because it clearly was a criminal organization. Jim Mattis's actions are especially disgusting. He was all to happy to use our troops as guinea pigs for untested medical devices because he sat on the board and directly stood to profit. Don't worry though, there were a couple Dems in there now and again.

The scariest thing about this book is that the very important agencies and regulatory bodies may never have stepped in if it wasn't for the bravery of a few former employees and John Carreyrou's willingness to call BS. So many people knew from the beginning how dangerous this "technology" was and what a scam they were running, yet lawyers managed to terrify them all into submission.

The Theranos scam is a result of the complete erosion of rights for employees, patients, and consumers and the rise of the silicone valley cult of greed (with a lot of help from our corporate politicians.) Journalists are our last and best hope and despite my depression at the state of our nation, this is one of the few bright lights. If this woman and her weird partner aren't in prison there truly is no law rich people answer to.

THANK YOU JOHN!!

Fascinating story, annoying narrator

Fascinating story, sometimes it dragged a tad, but overall I binged this in 3 days.

Note to the narrator: bro, stop with the "female" voice impressions. It's annoying, distracting, INSULTING and also inappropriate considering Elizabeth's well known "baritone" speaking style.

Otherwise, the narration was fine.

Narrarator

The man who reads this book does an “impression” of female speakers that, in my opinion, borders on mocking. We know Elizabeth Holmes is a lady. We know what ladies sound like in a general way. I don’t need this dude to affect some high pitched effeminate tone to let me know who he’s quoting when he says “she said”. Just read the book.

I cannot wait to see the movie!

As a physician, I was suspicious from the start when I first heard about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. It was always sold so hard without presenting actual data about efficacy--even at medical meetings. If they really had the technology to do what they claimed, they would've been doing it because everyone would prefer it. Instead there was marketing and lobbying. It was curious to see even medical luminaries crow about articles in Forbes--rather than science. Now having listened to Bad Blood, I know understand the story to be much darker than I ever imagined. This book is a public service and a lesson in not believing hype.