BILLION Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World is selling faster than the booksellers can restock, flying off the shelves of Borders, MPH and Kinokuniya.

The tale of a mysterious Malaysian billionaire who lived like a king and partied like a rock star with Hollywood’s A-listers is one that is apparently of great interest to his compatriots, whose tax money is said to have funded his jet-setting lifestyle.

The man is Low Taek Jho,allegedly the mastermind of the scheme to defraud state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which has become a household name the world over after the scandal was exposed by the Wall Street Journal in 2015.

The book’s authors are WSJ journalists and Pulitzer Prize-finalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope.

Borders at IOI Mall said it ran out of stock on the first day of the book’s release in Malaysia on Thursday.

“Customers are questioning the 1MDB expose, as previously the public could not discuss this issue. We are out of stock even after one day of sales,” said the store assistant supervisor, who introduced herself as Aina, 25.

A spokesman for MPH Bookstores said the title was selling fast and some outlets had run out of stock.

“People have been asking us, which one of our outlets has stock and when will there be new stock,” she said.

Kinokuniya staff declined to comment, saying they had orders not to speak about the sale of the book. 

It was reported yesterday that Low’s lawyers in the UK had sent threatening letters to bookstores in a bid to stop its sale.

A Kinokuniya spokesman at the store in KLCC said no instructions had been given about stopping sale of the book.

Aina of Borders said the staff had heard rumours that the book would be recalled, but that had not happened.

A Borders spokesman said orders would have to come from the chainstore’s head office, Berjaya Books Sdn Bhd.

The book retails at RM79.90. –  September 16, 2018.