New ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ Book Stolen A Week Before Release, Is It On The Black Market Already?

The launch of a new Fifty Shades Of Grey book from author E.L. James has been plunged into chaos after it was reported that the manuscript has been stolen just a week before it was due to be released.

Grey, which was written by James and is due to hit shelves on June 18, is told from the point of view of Christian Grey, the title character from the original hit novel. But according to the Daily Mail, a copy of the manuscript was found missing from Penguin Randomhouse, the publishers of the book, on Tuesday morning.

Thieves are believed to have broken into the building and taken the pages, and it’s now worried that they will now try and release it onto the black market before the book’s release date, or that they’ll try and sell the work to the media.

Police are now believed to be investigating the disappearance, and when they were contacted for a comment a spokesman for Penguin Randomhouse remarked, “We have no comment to make due to an ongoing police investigation.”

Pre-order a copy of #GREY from your favorite bookseller @amazon @Target @Walmart @BNBuzz @Powells @E_L_James pic.twitter.com/NTBc21JL6J

— 50ShadesGreyTrilogy (@50GreyTrilogy) June 8, 2015

Grey was chosen to be released on June 18 because it is the fictional birthday of Christian Grey. Fifty Shades Of Grey , which was originally released in 2011, was primarily told from the point of view of Anastasia Steele. It has since gone on to sell over 100 million copies, while it was followed by two sequels — Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed — and was also adapted into a feature film that eventually grossed $569.7 million too.

James admitted that she decided to re-write the book from Grey’s point of view because of the overwhelming demand from fans. In fact, on the opening page of the book, James thanks her fans for convincing her to write it. She states that it is “dedicated to those readers who asked… and asked… and asked… and asked for this.”

Meanwhile, she previously disclosed further reasons for writing the book too, stating, “Christian is a complex character and readers have always been fascinated by his desires and motivations, and his troubled past. Also, as anyone who has ever been in a relationship knows, there are two sides to every story. It’s been a great pleasure to return to my happy place – writing, being with Christian and Ana in their universe.”

(Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)