Audiobook Review – Thicker than Water by Tyler Shultz (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Non-fiction
Length: 3 hours and 37 minutes
Publisher: Audible Originals
Release Date: August 04, 2020
ASIN :B08DDB4GG9
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed Audiobook through Audible Originals
Rating: 3/5 stars
“From the hero whistleblower of the infamous Theranos scam, Thicker than Water is a look at never-before-revealed details behind closed doors at the company, revealing a cautionary tale of corporate bullying, gaslighting, ego, and wealth running amok in Silicon Valley.
Tyler Shultz had been in the workforce for less than a year when he emailed Elizabeth Holmes, his employer and the CEO and founder of Theranos, with concerns that the company’s lab practices were faulty, ignored quality control, and were potentially dangerous to patients. The COO fired back with a dismissive and insulting email, to which Tyler replied: “Consider this my two weeks’ notice.”
From there, his life spun out of control at the hand of Elizabeth, her team of high-powered lawyers, and the patriarch of Tyler’s own family George Shultz – one of America’s most prominent statesmen – who sat among the top of the Theranos board of directors. And yet, Tyler forged on. To protect his own conscience, the honor and reputation of his grandfather, and the health of patients worldwide.
Thicker than Water is Tyler’s as-told-to story – a harrowing and heartbreaking roller coaster of biomedical drama, family intrigue, and redemption – that will ultimately make you feel as though you are at a dinner party, seated next to a brilliant friend with one hell of a story.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this audiobook through Audible Plus.
Story (3/5): This is Shultz’s story of how his family got involved with Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, his internship there, his work there and what followed. Prior to reading this I didn’t know a lot about the Theranos scandal. It was interesting to learn about that, but this seemed a bit long. Things play out kind of how you would expect and of course Holmes is still awaiting trial.
Characters (3/5): Tyler does a decent job telling this but comes off as kind of immature throughout (of course he was young when he went through all of this). He does stick to his morals (kind of) and seems to try to do the right thing. He definitely comes from a background of privilege and acknowledges this. However, a lot of people wouldn’t have had the luxury and resources he had to follow this type of fight to the end game.
Setting (3/5): Most of this story takes place in California at Theranos and at Tyler’s house.
Writing Style (3/5): Tyler wrote and narrated this himself. It’s decent, there’s no huge technical errors. Things jump around some and at points there were some inconsistencies but it was fine.
My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay and if you want to learn more about the Theranos debacle this is an approachable way to do that. Just keep in mind this is from the point of view of a privileged person who was an intern there and then a young co-worker. So, while his insights are interesting you are only getting a very small part of the picture and it doesn’t go into a lot of depth.
