Published by Knopf Publishing Group on 21 May 2018
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The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of a multibillion-dollar startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end in the face of pressure and threats from the CEO and her lawyers.

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 revolutionise the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests 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 $9 billion, putting Holmes's worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn't work.

For years, Holmes had been misleading investors, FDA officials, and her own employees. When Carreyrou, working at The Wall Street Journal, got a tip from a former Theranos employee and started asking questions, both Carreyrou and the Journal were threatened with lawsuits. Undaunted, the newspaper ran the first of dozens of Theranos articles in late 2015. By early 2017, the company's value was zero and Holmes faced potential legal action from the government and her investors. Here is the riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a disturbing cautionary tale set amid the bold promises and gold-rush frenzy of Silicon Valley.

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How did Elizabeth Holmes fool everyone--her board, investors, employees, and the public?

I've been fascinated by Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes ever since listening to The Dropout podcast miniseries. I immediately requested this book from the library, and whilst waiting for it to come in, I watched The Inventor documentary on HBO. So I must give the disclaimer that it's quite possible that my 5 star rating is due more to my fascination with the case in general than about this book specifically, but nonetheless, I was absolutely gripped reading this account from the man himself who first broke the story to the public in The Wall Street Journal.

I would highly recommend the podcast if you're intrigued by the story and seek easily-digestible entertainment, but if you really want to get into it, I highly recommend the book too! Carreyrou is extremely thorough, and it's crazy to see how many players were involved. Because of Theranos' company culture of fear and secrecy, even many of the employees didn't know the full picture of what was going on in the company. Major props to Carreyrou for piecing it together, and to the brave sources who stepped forward to help Carreyrou break the story, exposing Theranos and saving lives of potential Theranos customers, all in spite of Theranos' intimidation tactics in their effort to keep up their ruse.

This really made me think about how far talking a good talk and having a powerful network can take you. It's astounding what a beautiful young woman surrounded by rich old men can do with a tempting vision and great marketing.

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Published by Celadon Books on 20 Aug 2019
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After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank.

But the town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed "The Whisper Man," for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.

Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter's crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late, even if that means Pete has to revisit his great foe in prison: The Whisper Man.

And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window...

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I gotta give a shout out to my reading buddies Sadia and Tegan for recommending this book to me! Both received ARCs of this book and recommended me to request one as well, so I did, and now The Whisper Man is my favourite thriller of 2019!

I was especially intrigued by the blurb because I had read I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, a true crime account of the Golden State Killer, just the month prior. The Golden State Killer was known for casing his victims' homes months in advance and peeping under their windows at night. Before he was caught, he was even sighted under a window and described as a ghostly figure in the bushes... So with that knowledge tucked under my belt, the Whisper Man really came to life for me, for better or for worse!

Small triumphs on terrible days. You had to cling to them.

This story is far from your formulaic thriller that relies on the account of a high functioning alcoholic woman. We've had enough of those. This thriller is the first one that has properly creeped me out. (Most thrillers I read simply keep me in suspense with my curiosity. Maybe I'm choosing the wrong ones haha.) The creepy sensory descriptions were so vivid--not just visual imagery, but oral imagery too, hence Whisper Man. Creepy men. Creepy voices. Creepy kids. Creepy kids are the worst, man. Lots of suspense. (How are these disappearances still happening if Frank Carter is already incarcerated?)

It was past midnight by the time I reached the last 20% of the book, and at that point, I had to stay up and finish the rest, because it was too creepy for me to fall asleep until it was resolved. The end was really satisfying. And still creepy. Haunting.

Highly recommended for anyone who loves thrillers!

Note: I've recommended this book to a few friends already and it seems that I may have overhyped it for them. I mean, they still rated it 4 stars, so they liked it, but perhaps didn't find it as creepy or original as I did!

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Published by Crown on 26 Jul 2016
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Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

It starts with a man in a mask kidnapping him at gunpoint, for reasons Jason can’t begin to fathom—what would anyone want with an ordinary physics professor?—and grows even more terrifying from there, as Jason’s abductor injects him with some unknown drug and watches while he loses consciousness.

When Jason awakes, he’s in a lab, strapped to a gurney—and a man he’s never seen before is cheerily telling him “welcome back!”

Jason soon learns that in this world he’s woken up to, his house is not his house. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born.

And someone is hunting him.

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I picked up this book after loving Recursion--also by Blake Crouch--so much. I had seen many people talk about anticipating Recursion (the newer release of the two) because they enjoyed Dark Matter so much. Some of these readers were underwhelmed by Recursion, saying it was just more of the same of Dark Matter. Now having read both, I can definitely see the huge similarities between them. So if you do decide you want to read both of these books, I would recommend giving yourself some time in between before starting the next one.

And now, if you have no idea what I'm talking about because you haven't read Recursion and you haven't seen my review of it, I'll get on with my review of Dark Matter and try to keep my comparisons to Recursion minimal!

It's terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, branches into a new world.

The concept that Crouch plays around with in this novel is the multiverse. Think almost Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I was expecting a sci-fi thriller, and this was (very fast-paced too), but it also read very heavily like a romance, which was surprising. There are certainly those mind-bending moments characteristic of the best sci-fi, but a lot of the story is also simply about Jason getting back to his family, and particularly to his wife Daniela. Romance is a bit of a hit-or-miss for me, but I was really invested in Jason and Daniela finding their way back to each other!

We're all just wandering through the tundra of our existence, assigning value to worthlessness, when all that we love and hate, all we believe in and fight for and kill for and die for is as meaningless as images projected onto Plexiglas.

Blake Crouch is officially an auto-read author for me! I'd like to check out his Wayward Pines series next!

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Published by Penguin Books on 23 Feb 2016
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I read and read and read with an intensity I'd never really known before. I mean, I'd always considered myself to be a person who liked books. But there's a difference between liking books and needing them. I needed books. They weren't a luxury good during that time in my life. They were a Class A addictive substance...

There is this idea that you either read to escape or you read to find yourself. I don't really see the difference. We find ourselves through the process of escaping. It is not where we are, but where we want to go, and all that. "Is there no way out of the mind?" Sylvia Plath famously asked. I had been interested in this question (what it meant, what the answers might be) ever since I had come across it as a teenager in a book of quotations. If there is a way out, a way that isn't death itself, then the exit route is through words. But rather than leave the mind entirely, words help us leave a mind, and give us the building blocks to build another one, similar but better, nearby to the old one but with firmer foundations, and very often a better view.

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Published by Penguin Books on 23 Feb 2016
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I wanted to be dead. No. that's not quite right. I didn't want to be dead. I just didn't want to be alive. Death was something that scared me. And death only happens to people who have been living. there were infinitely more people who had never been alive. I wanted to be one of those people. That old classic wish. To never have been born. To have been one of the three hundred million sperm that hadn't made it.

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Published by Crown on 13 Nov 2018
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In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

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Michelle Obama is smart, strong, driven, perceptive, and an excellent story teller. The way she weaves together her values, her accomplishments, personal anecdotes, and social issues is seamless, avoiding sounding too preachy. Even if you're not into politics (tbh, politics go over my head), I would still recommend this memoir.

Even when it's not pretty or perfect. Even when it's more real than you want it to be. Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.

It is told in three parts: "Becoming Me," "Becoming Us," "Becoming More." The first part talks about her life from the South Side of Chicago to her time as a law associate at the prestigious law firm Sidley & Austin. The second part begins when she and Barack start dating, and the third part begins with her as First Lady. Admittedly, "Becoming More" does get a little politic-heavy, which is natural considering the phase in her life that part is covering, but again, her story telling is seamless, and I read it more as an insight into her values and her determination to make a difference.

This is the story of a woman who didn't back down when society told her she couldn't. She worked harder. She made plans and executed them flawlessly. She did everything she was supposed to. She rose from the South Side of Chicago, went to Princeton, then Harvard, and straight to work at Sidley & Austin. She did everything she was suppose to and found that it wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to make a difference in the areas she cared about. And there is so much she cares about. So many she cares about.

His was the lone voice telling me to just go for it, to erase the worries and go toward whatever I thought would make me happy. It was okay to make my leap into the unknown, because... the unknown wasn't going to kill me.

Michelle Obama is an amazing woman and a blessing to us all. She is an inspiration to all of us to have bigger hearts and reach bigger goals.

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Published by Harper Books on 27 Feb 2018
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A masterful true crime account of the Golden State Killer—the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California for over a decade—from Michelle McNamara, the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case.

"You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark."

For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area.

Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer." Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.

At the time of the crimes, the Golden State Killer was between the ages of eighteen and thirty, Caucasian, and athletic—capable of vaulting tall fences. He always wore a mask. After choosing a victim—he favored suburban couples—he often entered their home when no one was there, studying family pictures, mastering the layout. He attacked while they slept, using a flashlight to awaken and blind them. Though they could not recognize him, his victims recalled his voice: a guttural whisper through clenched teeth, abrupt and threatening.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark—the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death—offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman’s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Framed by an introduction by Gillian Flynn and an afterword by her husband, Patton Oswalt, the book was completed by Michelle’s lead researcher and a close colleague. Utterly original and compelling, it is destined to become a true crime classic—and may at last unmask the Golden State Killer.

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I listen to my fair share of true crime podcasts and had heard the name "the Golden State killer" before, but I didn't know anything about the case. However, I did get a sense that this case is one of the most chilling and fascinating ones for true crime junkies--for the perpetrator's elusiveness and for the sheer quantity of crimes.

This true crime account was incredibly well-researched and well-written. It was published posthumously and completed by lead researcher Paul Haynes and investigative journalist Billy Jensen. They said it best: "Michelle always found the perfect balance between the typical extremes of the genre. She didn't flinch from evoking key elements of horror and yet avoided lurid overindulgence in grisly details, as well as sidestepping self-righteous justice crusading or victim hagiography... She had a nuance one doesn't normally encounter in true crime."

It was haunting that at the time of publication, the case remained unsolved, the identity of the Golden State Killer unknown. It was bittersweet when the Golden State Killer was finally caught, just two months after publication (bittersweet that McNamara, who passed away two years before publication, didn't live to see this day).

I'm glad that by the time I started reading the book, the Golden State Killer was already caught. Otherwise, I would have had trouble sleeping at night. Tip: Don't read this book in your house!! Take it to a cafe or the beach or something!

Upon finishing the book, I tried to look into the Golden State Killer's arrest and other updates to the case, but as the investigation is ongoing, the articles I found didn't have much information and were unsatisfying (especially after reading an account as brilliant as McNamara's haha). I also went back to the Golden State Killer episodes of the My Favorite Murder podcast (#1, #115, #118), and started listening to The Murder Squad podcast hosted by Billy Jensen and Paul Holes, beginning with the Golden State Killer episode (#4).

If you're into true crime, I'll Be Gone in the Dark is a must-read.

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Published by Penguin Press on 12 Sep 2017
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In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family – and Mia’s.

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This novel began as a slow, small town story. 100 pages in, I was surprised that there wasn’t more happening; I had heard so many people raving about this book, so I suppose I expected there to be a little more drama in such a sensational book.

I was looking for the moment the story would pick up. And I found it (the custody battle). And it built. And I cried. But it wasn’t the drama that got to me. It was the characters.

Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way.

This book got to who we are as humans, as individuals, and it touched on themes of art, identity, motherhood, and love. It introduced characters as their roles in their community, like they were dolls to be moved to a script, a sort of storytelling from a distance. As the story carried on, each character and their relationships came to life and were unraveled so that we could see each person for who they were, what they believed in, what they loved, who they loved, how they loved. We could see the reasons for the choices they made and the consequences that led. The layers to each person make you question what matters, what matters more, what’s enough.

Similarly, for most of my life, I have always seen people for the roles they played in mine. It wasn’t until college that I started breaking out of that and noticing the people behind those roles -- my mom as her own person, my dad as his own person (my parents had lives before my own?? wow. mindblown), my brothers as their own people, a professor as their own person, a barista as their own person, a bus driver as their own person. Even for myself, I’ve been trying to figure out who I am apart from the role that I play -- no longer a student, so who?

Even if you don’t relate to this book in the specific way that I did, I believe that there’s something for everyone to take away from it. (For the record, I relate to this book in so many more ways, but this is one place to start.)

The young are the same, always and everywhere.

I know that I’ve come to this book later than most people. But I think this book came to me at exactly the right time. Lately I’ve been grappling with something in my heart that I won’t get into here, but I wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that this book healed me in some ways.

But there would be love, too, so much love. With that, you could get by with so little.

A beautiful story that came to me at a perfect time. 5 stars, through and through.

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Published by Little, Brown and Company on 30 May 2017
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Grief-stricken over his partner’s death, Gavin sets fire to every physical reminder in the couple’s home. A neighbour captures the ordeal on video, turning this unsung TV actor into a household name. Now, Gavin is fleeing the hysteria of Los Angeles for New Jersey, hoping to find peace with the family of an old friend. Instead, he finds Joan.

Joan, the family’s ten-year-old daughter, was born with the rare ability to recall every day of her life in cinematic detail. In seconds, she can tell you how many times her mother has uttered the phrase “it never fails” in the last six months (27) or what she was wearing when her grandfather took her fishing on a particular Sunday in June years ago (fox socks). Joan has never met Gavin until now, but she did know his partner, Sydney, and waiting inside her uncanny mind are half a dozen startlingly vivid memories to prove it.

Gavin strikes a deal with Joan: in return for sharing all her memories of Sydney, Gavin will help Joan win a local songwriting contest she’s convinced could make her unforgettable. The unlikely duo sets off on their quest until Joan reveals unexpected details about Sydney’s final months, forcing Gavin to question not only the purity of his past with Sydney but the course of his own immediate future.

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I appreciated how this book had LGBTQIA+ representation without making it a character's whole identity. LGBTQIA+ people are people and have identities outside of their sexual orientation. They have stories. And you're going to have to read this book to to discover Gavin and Joan's.

People have all kinds of reasons for why they don’t remember. They blame it on their batteries dying, or their ears not hearing right, or just being too busy, or too old, or too tired. But really it’s because they don’t have enough room inside their boxes. When I was turning five, Mom bought me a box for all my art. She was fed up with me leaving my drawings and projects around the house. She told me to choose which pieces were most important because there wasn’t enough room in the box to keep everything. That’s how it is with people’s brains. There’s only enough room for the most important memories and the rest gets thrown away. When I’m the thing that gets thrown away, because I’m not important enough, it’s hard not to get the blues like John Lennon on The White Album when he sings, I’m lonely and I wanna die.

I immediately fell in love with Joan. She’s so pure! I loved that this book used simple words, but the ways in which they were used, man, they made you feel things. I think many of us can relate to not wanting to be forgotten. For some of us, it may be a selfish reason; some of us crave the attention. For some of us, it may be an existential reason; what is our purpose and how do we do something that matters? For Joan, it’s simple. She’s a girl who remembers everything. But when she remembers everything and the rest of the world can’t, it’s a lonely feeling.

But then I realized, it’s not people’s fault that they have crappy brains. That’s what reminders are for. Mom never forgets to pay the bills because she has a reminder on her calendar. And Dad remembers to put new batteries in our smoke alarm only because it starts beeping. And no one forgets Martin Luther King because he has his own holiday every year. It works the same way with songs. Everyone remembers John Lennon, even Grandma, because his songs are reminders. My song is going to be a reminder to everyone that they should keep me in their brainboxes, and I have less than two weeks to finish it.

So there’s the heavy stuff. Joan, being forgotten. Gavin, widowed. But there’s also so much love and light and life.

I don’t know if I can wait that long because waiting is the worst thing ever invented.

Okay so maybe talking about the “worst thing ever invented” isn’t the happiest thing to say, but it made me smile when I read it. When I was little, there were a lot of things that were the worst things ever invented. I repeat, Joan is so pure!!

Now I’ve said a lot about Joan, but I think that I’m more of the Gavin in this story, and this book was my Joan. Growing up, many of us lose our childlike wonder; it's something we could all do with a little more of. Joan was that. We all need more Joans in our lives.

This book was one of my favourite books of 2017. It has humour, it has pain, it has existential crises, it has art, it has... life.

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Published by Little, Brown and Company on 22 Oct 2013
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It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch combines vivid characters, mesmerising language, and suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

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Just about every review I’ve read for this book has commented on its length. Some people think the story could have been told in less words; some people don’t mind. I personally enjoyed the length, I think because I really enjoyed Donna Tartt's writing style.

Admittedly, there were a few times at the beginning of the novel when I wondered what the heck was going on, what the main conflict was, where it was all leading to, and what was the point. Particularly, The Goldfinch painting seemed to hold so much gravity at the beginning, and it is what the novel is named after, but then The Goldfinch seemed to disappear. For those lost and confused, I'll spoil that the painting later does make a significant reappearance, so trust the process!

That said, I did wonder whether all the stuff that happened in between mattered, why it couldn't just be cut out and maybe make it a little easier for the readers who were overwhelmed by the book's length.

And just as music is the space between notes, just as the stars are beautiful because of the space between them, just as the sun strikes raindrops at a certain angle and throws a prism of color across the sky–so the space where I exist, and want to keep existing, and to be quite frank I hope I die in, is exactly this middle distance: where despair struck pure otherness and created something sublime.

I finally decided that, for me, all that in between made the story more poignant because it was reflective of real life. For me, real life is made of these in between moments. You don't know what the bigger picture of your life is until you look back on it. You aren't given cues in real life like you might get in mystery novels or films -- no intensifying background music, no telling camera angles. You don't latch onto every observation. Many things pass you by -- some big, some small.

It didn't hurt that I loved Donna Tartt's writing style and wanted to marinate in her words for as long as I could. If I didn't love her writing style so much (which is simply a matter of personal taste), I don't know whether I would have made it through the novel, so I sympathise with those of you who are overwhelmed. (Okay fine, I probably would have made it through anyway, since I'm terrible at dropping books, even ones I don't enjoy, but it would have taken me forever.)

But don't let the book's daunting size discourage you! I would recommend reading through the first few pages if it intrigues you and getting a feel for the writing. You might find that you love it as much as I do!

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