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Eight years after its publication, John Carreyrou’s “Bad Blood” is getting another moment in the spotlight — this time courtesy of Nathan Fielder.
The Wall Street Journal reporter’s bestselling exposé of Elizabeth Holmes and her fraudulent blood-testing startup Theranos has climbed back up Amazon’s book charts following the release of “You Can See Everything,” Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s buzzy new documentary about the disgraced Silicon Valley founder.
As of Monday, the 2018 book ranks No. 1 in three of Amazon’s bestseller categories — biomedical engineering, business infrastructure and venture capital — and No. 3,048 among all books on the retailer’s website.
NO. 1 BESTSELLER
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
The renewed interest comes amid a huge theatrical debut for “You Can See Everything,” which opened nationwide on Oct. 16 and earned $15 million domestically over its first weekend. The nearly three-hour A24 release, filmed largely in secret, follows Holmes, her partner Billy Evans and their two children during the final weeks before Holmes reported to federal prison in May 2023.
Published in 2018, “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup” remains the definitive account of Theranos’ rise and collapse. Carreyrou, whose reporting for The Wall Street Journal first exposed serious problems with the company’s technology in 2015, traces how Holmes convinced some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful investors that she had developed a revolutionary blood-testing machine capable of running hundreds of tests using just a few drops of blood.
Of course, the technology never worked as advertised. By the time Theranos dissolved in 2018, its onetime $9 billion valuation had evaporated, Holmes had become the face of Silicon Valley excess, and Carreyrou’s investigation had helped turn one of the tech industry’s most celebrated startups into one of its biggest scandals.
“Bad Blood” became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller following its release and spent more than 100 weeks across the newspaper’s bestseller lists. Carreyrou himself has praised the documentary, suggesting that Fielder and Oppenheim’s approach deserves Oscar recognition.
Holmes was convicted in 2022 of four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy related to Theranos and subsequently sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison. She has continued to maintain her innocence, a position that becomes a recurring point of tension in the new film.
Buy “Bad Blood” online here.