The publishers of a new book which lifts the lid on the RHI scandal has ordered two reprints
Burned: The Inside Story of the ‘Cash for Ash' Scandal and Northern Ireland's Secretive New Elite, tells the inside story of the botched Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.
It has emerged that a reprint was ordered the day before the book hit the shelves and a second reprint order was placed 24 hours after it was launched on Monday.
Penned by Sam McBride, political editor at the News Letter, the book is the product of three year’s work.
Mr McBride said he is surprised by the public reaction to the book.
“This story has dominated my life for almost three years and my wife has generously accepted me taking thousands of hours to piece together what happened before Stormont fell and explain it in an understandable way,” he said.
“ I always felt that this book would be a failure, if it was only read by those who follow politics and care about it.
“This scandal is so important that it needs to be understood by those who don't even vote because it exposes how their politicians and civil servants behaved when they thought their behaviour would never be revealed.”
The book has climbed as high as number 11 on the Amazon UK charts.
Publisher Conor Graham, of Merrion Press, said there has been huge interest in the book.
“In my twenty years in the Irish book trade, as a bookseller, sales rep and now as a publisher, I have never seen this level of interest, both in volume and the sheer instantaneous response from the market, as I’ve experienced with Sam’s book this week,” he said.
“It’s off the scale.”
