This tale of colossal Silicon Valley failure reads like a thriller. The most amazing part is not the failure per se. Businesses fail all the time. It is the fact that Theranos and its charismatic CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, were able to fool elder statemen, venture capitalists and investors, and the public, for about 15 years before the whole house of cards collapsed. All the signs were there all along, as reported by WSJ reporter John Carreyrou, but they were ignored or dismissed. Instead, Holmes's image and charisma, combined with a hefty dose of paranoia, imposition of fear, and Scientology-level retaliation tactics, loom large. But in the end, there is also no question that Holmes came from privilege and was able to marshal that resource any time she needed. This book also goes deep into the actual management of Theranos, the reign of terror of Holmes's right-hand man, which led to internal dysfunctions, high turnover, and low employee morale. Those are of interest to anyone working on group behavior, management of large organizations, and leadership.
All in all, it makes for a very creepy tale.