Bad Blood

The front third is an “occasionally repetitive read, especially in the beginning,” where “chapter after chapter introduces a new employee who quickly gets sacked” before the book finds its throughline. The prose is functional wire-service journalism, “some parts written well some not so much,” and the pacing “a bit touch and go.” Theranos turnover was constant and the cast is large enough that readers stop keeping names straight. Many arrive already knowing the outline from the news or the HBO documentary, so the revelations land as confirmation, the book mostly “bringing the story to a close.” And some feel it stacks anecdotes without stepping back to explain how the fraud ran so long.