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John Carreyrou
John Carreyrou is the author of Bad Blood, a gripping account of the rise and fall of the biotech startup Theranos. He's known for his investigative journalism and deep dives into complex stories.
Bad Blood
Synopsis
Bad Blood is John Carreyrou's account of the rise and collapse of Theranos, the Silicon Valley blood-testing startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes in 2003. Holmes claimed her company's devices could run hundreds of tests from a single drop of blood, and the promise carried Theranos to a $9 billion valuation and a board stacked with former secretaries of state and defense. Behind the scenes, the technology didn't work, and Holmes and her COO and secret partner, Sunny Balwani, ran the company through fear and secrecy, pressuring employees into silence and threatening those who spoke up.
Carreyrou, the Wall Street Journal investigative reporter who first exposed the fraud in 2015, draws on hundreds of interviews — including with the young whistleblowers Tyler Shultz and Erika Cheung — to trace how the deception was sustained for years, and what it cost the patients who trusted the company's faulty results. The book won the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.
Genres
Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award (2018)Financial Times Business Book of the Year (2018)Goodreads Choice Award (2018)Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2018)
Frequently asked questions
Is Bad Blood a true story?
Yes. Bad Blood is a work of narrative nonfiction by Wall Street Journal investigative reporter John Carreyrou, who first exposed the Theranos fraud in 2015. The book is based on hundreds of interviews with former employees, executives, investors and patients.
What happened to Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani after the events in Bad Blood?
Both were later convicted of fraud. In January 2022, a federal jury convicted Elizabeth Holmes on four counts of defrauding investors; she was sentenced to just over 11 years in prison. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani was convicted on all 12 counts against him in July 2022 and received a longer sentence of nearly 13 years. Both convictions were upheld on appeal in 2025.