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  • Bad Blood

  • Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
  • Written by: John Carreyrou
  • Narrated by: Will Damron
  • Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,516 ratings)

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Bad Blood

Written by: John Carreyrou
Narrated by: Will Damron
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Publisher's Summary

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.

©2018 John Carreyrou (P)2018 Random House Audio

What the critics say

"[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.... Prizewinning Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou tells [this story] virtually to perfection.... [His] description of Holmes as a manic leader who turned coolly hostile when challenged is ripe material for a psychologist.... His recounting of his efforts to track down sources - many of whom were being intimidated by Theranos’s bullying lawyer, David Boies - reads like a West Coast version of All the President's Men." (Roger Lowenstein, The New York Times Book Review

"Carreyrou blends lucid descriptions of Theranos’s technology and its failures with a vivid portrait of its toxic culture and its supporters’ delusional boosterism. The result is a bracing cautionary tale about visionary entrepreneurship gone very wrong." (Publishers Weekly)

"Eye-opening.... A vivid, cinematic portrayal of serpentine Silicon Valley corruption.... A deep investigative report on the sensationalistic downfall of multibillion-dollar Silicon Valley biotech startup Theranos. Basing his findings on hundreds of interviews with people inside and outside the company, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal reporter Carreyrou rigorously examines the seamy details behind the demise of Theranos and its creator, Elizabeth Holmes.... [Carreyrou] brilliantly captures the interpersonal melodrama, hidden agendas, gross misrepresentations, nepotism, and a host of delusions and lies that further fractured the company’s reputation and halted its rise." (Kirkus

"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, starred review)

Featured Article: 20 Best True Crime Audiobooks for Your Inner Detective

There is nothing more thrilling than the unfolding tale of a true crime story. Whether an unsolved mystery, a deep dive into a criminal mastermind, or a look at an infamous serial killer, true crime is gripping, captivating, and engrossing. The best true crime audiobooks will have you on the edge of your seat, anxious for more. Add to that an emphatic and powerful narrator, and you simply won't be able to stop listening. Here are the 20 best true crime audiobooks to satisfy your inner detective.

What listeners say about Bad Blood

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exciting nonfic book

The writer has done a lot of detective work to uncover an evil conpany"a secrets.

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must read!

loved this book. fastest read ever because I couldn't put it down. started listening non-stop whenever I had time.... page turner!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Drags on with unnecessary detail

I was really hooked the first couple of hours... But then many hours later there really hasn't been any new plot developments. Rather, you follow a look at this sketchy company from 100 different perspectives. There's just so many people, so many subplots within subplots. I get it. Elizabeth and her boyfriend were running a shady business with a terrible workplace culture. I've heard this from 10 different perspectives already, I don't need to hear more. Can we move on with some plot development? No? Time to hear about another new character?
Too many people to keep track of, too many. extraneous details. Could've made a fantastic story if it was half the length.
I'm getting bored and want to skip to the last hour.

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1 person found this helpful

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Great and informative book

Throughout this book I found myself getting infuriated by the individuals at the head of Theranos, and I am grateful for Carreyrou for writing this story and bringing their misdoings into the light.

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loved it!

Great level of detail and the order/delivery of each individual story line was very impacting, deliberate and smooth flowing.

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A must read for any aspiring entrepreneur.

An excellent narrator.
A spell binding story.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
A thrilling story in which greed overrides all other considerations.
A story describes the blinding effects of money and fame on entrepreneurs, lawyers and investors and their conveniently acquired ruthlessness in pursuit of it.

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Almost could not stop listening.

A compelling and reveling tale that carries many lessons for investors and employees. Well written and narrated.

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Gripping, listened right through

Remarkable that this actually happened. Perhaps it was innocent enough, with Elizabeth Holmes naively pushing ahead when a prototype wasn't ready, but it was so quickly out of control it's unforgivable. The degree of the fraud at Theranos is stunning, and quite the yarn to untie, given the powerful investors who wanted to turn a blind eye. The fact that it was a woman does make it more interesting, though it shouldn't. The book read like a novel, so it was rather strange to Google and find the real covers of Inc. and Fortune. It was also ironic to learn how much Elizabeth Holmes tried to emulate Steve Jobs... but she was a tyrant and treated employees like dirt. A FASCINATING listen.

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A Must Read!

my biggest complaint about this book is that I wasn't able to put it down! Best audiobook I've ever listened to. Highly recommend

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Riveting page turner!!

I loved this book! It is extremely well researched and crafted and does a wonderful portrayal of showcasing someone who is deeply narcissistic with some psychopathic traits and how that personality structure can subsume an entire company culture. Horrifying and incredible that the author was seminal in being Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos down.

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