My reading has been slowing down during the nice Fall weather, we’ve been outside more and getting the garden ready for Winter. So, just one book this time.
B
ad Blood by John Carreyrou – non-fiction. In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood testing significantly faster and easier. 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 $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn’t work.
The book tells the story of the rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, the multibillion-dollar biotech startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end, despite pressure from its charismatic CEO and aggressive threats by her lawyers.
In Bad Blood, John Carreyrou tells the riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley. I enjoyed this a lot, and so did Barbara. Incredible they could have gotten away with this for so long. A nod to George Kelley whose review of this brought it to my attention.
So how about you?
What have you been reading?
Tip the Wink 
Finished Careless Love the new Peter Robinson. Never read a bad book by Robinson and I have read them all. Also read The Kill Jar by J. Reuben Appelman a non fiction book about the Oakland County child murders of 1977-78. No one was ever charged but the killer was narrowed down to several good suspects. The best suspect was murdered in 1978 although police ruled it a suicide. The suspect supposedly shot himself in the head while in bed than put his arms and hands underneath the blankets. I remember the case vividly and live within a few miles of all the abduction sites. The case was badly mishandled by the police. Am now reading Wreckless the third IQ novel by Joe Ide. I liked the first 2. This one is pretty good so far.
Weird vibes while reading the Peter Robinson. Inspector Banks is at a party and mentions Mona by the Quicksilver Messenger Service is playing. At that same moment I am listening to that exact track on my stereo. Strange.
After finishing AND BE A VILLAIN by Rex Stout, I read HIS BURIAL TOO by Catherine Aird and then a Canadian mystery, A COLDER KIND OF DEATH by Gail Bowen.
Steve is encouraging me to read more of the Peter Robinson books I have on hand. I have read the first two books, have books 3-6 to read, and then have a couple of the later ones.
I started reading the Robinson books at number 8 or 9. I went back and read all the ones I missed spacing them out to about one a month. I don’t like reading too many books by the same author back to back.
PICTURE by Lillian Ross. Her memories of being on set with John Huston when he made THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE.
Richard, though a nonfiction, this book sounds much like an engaging thriller. I’d certainly like to read it. I’m currently reading a Western, “Trail Through Tascosa” by Peter Field who has written over 80 novels, including “Outlaws Three” (The Powder Valley Westerns #1).
Weird that in this day and age, the Robinson book was published so much earlier in Britain and Canada than here. I’ll wait for the American publication (January, six months after the British). Like Steve, I’ve read all of them from the beginning. Also read his short stories and everything but the non-series CAEDMON’S SONG (THE FIRST CUT in the US and Canada), which I bought the last time we were in England but haven’t read…yet.
Another author I’ve read from the beginning (OPEN SEASON, I believe) is Archer Mayor, whose 29th Joe Gunther book is BURY THE LEAD. He always manages to mix things up by setting each book in a different part of Vermont, as well as move the team’s various personal stories along.
I read the very strange story collection by Abbey Mei Otis, ALIEN LOVE VIRUS DISASTER, which was a little uneven but certainly kept my attention. Also read (will finish the last two stories this morning) Catherine Aird (mentioned by Tracy too)’s collection LAST WRITES. Her main series characters, Sloan & Crosby, appear in only three stories here, but a recurring character from earlier story collections, the diplomat Henry Tyler (from the Foreign Office in the late 1930s) appears in another six. The stories are about ten pages each, and a quick and easy read. The other collection I’m nearly done with is Deborah Eisenberg’s first, TRANSACTIONS IN A FOREIGN CURRENCY, which is not genre fiction. Eisenberg, as an interesting (to some of us) aside, is Wallace Shawn’s longtime girlfriend/companion, apparently. These are much longer tales, thirty or forty pages each. I was drawn to try her by the reviews of her newly published collection. I have her second on reserve. And, of course, I am still reading that Lord Dunsany collection of very short pieces.
The main book I raced through this week was THE FATED SKY, basically the second half of Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut of Mars series that started with THE CALCULATING STARS. THis one picks up immediately after the first and ends (no real surprise here) with the Mars landing. I still think you would really like these.
Thanks for the hat tip for BAD BLOOD. What a remarkable story! I can’t believe so many people (who should know better) were fooled. Glad you liked BAD BLOOD! I’m reading Simon R. Green’s first three books in his NIGHTSIDE series. Fun reading! I also have a number of non-fiction Library books to read because the Due Dates are looming. I’m trying to cut back on my book buying, especially with the Holidays approaching. Last year I had six orders disappear or arrive in a condition by way of a shredder. So, no AMAZON orders for me until January.
George, I’ve read the Nightside series too. They are a lot of fun. There is also a Nightside short story collection.
I’m glad you and Barbara are enjoying the Fall weather, Rick. I’t cooling off very nicely here on the Florida Panhandle.
Too many other things have interfered with my reading (and my blogging) recently. This week, I’ve been working my way through AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Agatha Christie, very interesting and not very revealing. Coming up are an old John Creasey mystery and Hugh Green’s RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES anthology.