Bad Blood Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

“Chilling … Reads like a thriller.” —The New York Times Book Review

This is the gripping story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, one of the biggest corporate frauds in history. It’s a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley, rigorously reported by a two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. This edition includes a new Afterword covering Holmes’s trial and sentencing, bringing the story to a close.

In 2014, Holmes was widely seen as the next Steve Jobs. She was a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize medicine with a device that could run the whole range of lab tests from a single drop of blood. Backed by investors like Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos reached a valuation of more than $9 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 doubts, from journalists to their own employees.

What unfolds is part business history, part medical scandal, and part page-turning detective story. You’ll find yourself lingering over each revelation, wondering how so many smart people believed the illusion for so long.

It’s perfect for readers who love true crime, investigative journalism, or a sharp look at the dark side of entrepreneurship and venture capital. Honestly, it’s the kind of book you start on a bench along the Marginal Way and can’t put down until the tide has turned.

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