NEW YORK – Sneak previews of a book alleging Barry Bonds was a frequent user of steroids have apparently left readers wanting to know more: “Game of Shadows” jumped into the top 10 on both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com after excerpts were released earlier this week.

According to publisher Gotham Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), a first printing of 50,000 has already been increased nearly fourfold, to 197,000. The book's original March 27 publication date has been moved to March 23, Gotham publicist Beth Parker said Thursday.

Authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, who led the San Francisco Chronicle's coverage of the BALCO scandal, recount in exhaustive detail the specifics of Bonds' drug regimen, which they write started in 1998 with injections of Winstrol, a powerful steroid also linked to Rafael Palmeiro.

The book describes how the San Francisco Giants star started using steroids because he was jealous of the attention paid to Mark McGwire's home run race with Sammy Sosa in 1998, and felt he needed to bulk up significantly to compete with the St. Louis Cardinals' slugger.

Bonds, who testified before a California federal grand jury investigating steroid use by top athletes, has always denied using performance-enhancing drugs and said his accomplishments are purely a result of hard work and talent.

The 41-year-old Bonds is third on the all-time list with 708 homers and only 48 shy of breaking Hank Aaron's career mark.