Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

Title: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Author: John Carreyrou

Genre: Non-fiction, True Crime

Have you ever heard of Elizabeth Holmes? How about Theranos? They both were poised to revolutionize the healthcare world with blood diagnostic machines that could run lots of tests on just a drop or two of blood. The idea was that they could provide quick and accurate results to help people manage their health and thereby avoid serious illness or at least catch it in time. Sounds almost too good to be true...
Follow the meteoric rise of this silicon valley startup, its big-name investors, its cloak and dagger treatment of employees, and its eventual exposure at the hands of a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter.
-Sarah R.

Check out Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou @ the library!

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

Title: I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
Author: Michelle McNamara
Genre: Nonfiction/True Crime

This one is for all the Murderinos out there! In the 1970s and early 1980s, California was terrorized by a serial rapist and murderer. 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. Over 30 years later, investigative journalist Michelle McNamara began her obsessive search to find the killer. Unfortunately, she suddenly died before a discovery could be made.This book chronicles her search for the Golden State Killer and elaborates on the crimes he committed during his reign of terror. Now a HBO mini-series, this book is a must read for any true crime lover.

- Megan

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The Year of Fear by Joe Urschel

In the 1930s, American gangsters needed to find a new source of income. The end of Prohibition put a stop to bootlegging and, due to the Great Depression, many banks were not worth robbing. Kidnapping became the most lucrative crime and many wealthy men or their family members were snatched and held for ransom. Law enforcement was practically helpless in the face of this crime. Local police could not pursue criminals across state lines and often cooperated with the criminals. In Washington, D.C., J. Edgar Hoover was trying to turn the Bureau of Investigation into an incorruptible national police force that could take control of criminal investigations before local authorities could mishandle the evidence, or worse, abet the criminals.

When George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife, Kathryn, kidnapped wealthy Oklahoma oilman, Charles Urschel, Hoover and his agents were ready to enforce the newly enacted Federal Kidnapping Act, rescue Mr. Urschel and catch the perpetrators. Once the ransom was paid and Urschel was released, the agents began to track down the criminals. Using clues provided by the alert and observant victim, the agents began at the farm in Texas where Urschel had been held and crisscrossed many states to the east, finally nabbing the Kellins in Memphis, Tennessee. Their capture was the first major case solved by Hoover's newly named Federal Bureau of Investigation and the first case prosecuted under the federal kidnapping law.

"Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife Kathryn were colorful characters--charming, good-looking, and fond of elegant clothing and expensive cars. J. Edgar Hoover was a beleaguered and maligned civil servant, disliked by many powerful people. Due to Hoover's doggedness, their fortunes were reversed. In The Year of Fear, author Joe Urschl combines their compelling stories with American history, creating a fascinating true crime book.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are back in a new mystery!  Approximately nine months after solving the Lula Landry case, things are looking slightly better for gritty private investigator Cormoran Strike.   He’s now sleeping in the flat above his office (instead of *in* the office itself) and has a steady stream of rich socialites who have hired Strike to spy on their wives/husbands/girlfriends.  But Strike is bored.  Soon, a shabby, mousy woman arrives at the office saying that her husband has gone missing.  Leonora Quine insists that though Owen may be an unfaithful husband who often disappears for days at a time, he would never leave for too long because of their daughter.  Owen Quine is a has-been writer known for novels of a very graphic nature.  The newest book that he’s just finished and is ready to publish, Bombyx Mori, is more of the same or so it first appears.  Cormoran’s gut tells him that this is no ordinary case and is soon on the hunt for the missing Quine.

After a visit to Quine’s agent, Strike learns that the new novel is more than it seems.  Apparently Quine has based the characters in his book on many of his friends and coworkers in the publishing industry.  After being told that his book was unpublishable due to possible libel lawsuits, the author threatens to publish it himself as an ebook, gathers up every last scrap of the manuscript and disappears.  When Quine is discovered murdered in a way that mirrors that of the main character in Bombyx Mori, even more questions arise.  Who had a chance to read the manuscript?  Quine had dirt of a lot of people, but who would go so far as to commit murder?

Like The Cuckoo’s Calling, the first book in the Strike series written under J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym, The Silkworm jumps right back into the middle of Cormoran and Robin’s world of mystery and crime.  There is more character development: Robin’s fiancée Matthew still hasn’t come around to Robin’s career choice and Stike is still struggling with his latest breakup with Charlotte.  And yes, there is still a lot of unvoiced tension ala “Why don’t Robin and Strike just date each other?  Then they wouldn’t be so darn miserable!” which is half the fun of these books.  Readers who enjoyed The Cuckoos Calling will not be disappointed by The Silkworm and the fact that Galbraith has left plenty of room for more Cormoran Strike novels in the future.

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Quiet Dell by Jayne Anne Phillips

In 1931, a widow from suburban Chicago, Asta Eicher, began to correspond with a man she met through a lonely hearts club advertisement. Deceived by his promises of marriage and financial security, she agreed to accompany him on a trip to his farm in West Virginia. He later returned without her to fetch her three children. None of them were seen again. But Asta was not as alone as the other victims of this serial killer, Harry Powers. Friends and neighbors became alarmed and alerted the police and press to their disappearance. Emily Thornhill, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, traveled to Quiet Dell in West Virginia, where the Eichers’ bodies had been found. A woman in what was then considered a man’s profession, she used her intelligence, skill, fortitude and intuition to track down Powers’ true identity as well as report the story for her newspaper. Quiet Dell is based on a true crime, one that author Jayne Anne Phillips heard about from her mother who grew up in the Quiet Dell area. Despite its subject matter, this book is neither a mystery nor thriller. It is rather an examination of the human condition, of love, hate, fear, hope, greed, generosity and loneliness. And as Phillips tells the story, some good comes out of unspeakable evil.

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