A gripping tale of deceit, delusion and megalomania

published 7 September 2018

Entrepreneurs used to dream about taking their company public. These days, the booming private-equity markets mean firms can become billion-dollar "unicorns" and stay private. This helps firms take a more long-term approach and dodge red tape, but it also allows them to avoid awkward questions. This book is a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when that scrutiny is lacking.

Theranos was set up by Stanford dropout Elizabeth Holmes to commercialise her miniature blood diagnostic device. Her enthusiasm and charm convinced Safeway and Wallgreens to trial her technology, and persuaded Henry Kissinger and General James Mattis to join her board. She was acclaimed as a visionary, feted as the next Bill Gates.

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Tipped off by a business rival, Carreyrou, an investigative journalist with The Wall Street Journal, decided to investigate. He found evidence that the firm was not only misrepresenting progress, but also putting lives at risk by knowingly giving patients and doctors inaccurate test results. Theranos launched an aggressive (but ultimately unsuccessful) legal campaign to try to get him to drop the investigation, which only ended after the firm imploded.

Books on corporate scandals can be very dull, but Bad Blood is a real-life thriller. Striking the perfect balance between the wider picture and the human drama, Carreyrou has created a gripping tale of deceit, delusion and megalomania.

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri