Snake oil : a novel
(Book)

"One woman's elixir is another woman's poison. Rhoda West is Silicon Valley's favorite female CEO: the luminousy charistmatic founder of the fast-growing startup Radical, a wellness company whose core mission is the betterment of women's lives. Rhoda's Instagram page offers intimate glimpses of her personal life alongside promotions for the cult-status products developed in the Well, Radical's secretive lab. Dani Lang is a 'quester,' as Rhoda calls her most avid followers. Dani found Radical at a low point in her life, and took an entry-level job just to get in the door. When she volunteers to test a controversial new supplement, Dani wins an opportunity to rise in the company, even to work with Rhoda herself. Cecelia Cole is a 'quasher.' She grinds away at the Customer Worship queue, resenting the entitled customers, the woo-woo Radical jargon, and Rhoda's smiling hypocrisy. Cecelia, who suffers from a miserable chronic illness, knows the remedies that Rhoda sells can't cure real sickness. Just as Rhoda announces another fundraising round that could turn Radical into a billion-dollar unicorn, an anonymous Twitter account begins spilling snarky gossip from inside the startup. Is Rhoda really the nurturing leader she presents to the world, or a fraud? Or is this just another case of a woman in business being punished for her strength and audacity? Tensions rise and loyalties clash, then tragedy strikes during a company party. In the aftermath of what looks more and more like a crime, even the most faithful questers begin to wonder what lengths Rhoda will go to protect her company. Part page-turning suspense, part darkly comic skewering of startup culture, Snake Oil is a gripping exploratin of ambition and authenticity, shining a revealing light on the wellness world." -- Jacket flap.