Potter book under guard at secret U.S. warehouse

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The answer to whether Harry Potter lives or dies lies in a stack of sealed boxes, shrouded as if hidden beneath an invisibility cloak.

Barnes & Noble, the world's largest book retailer, has started taking delivery of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final Harry Potter novel, at a warehouse somewhere in the northeastern United States.

With its ending wrapped in secrecy and high security surrounding its distribution, the book will go on sale around the world at midnight on Friday.

Taking care not to break its contract with Potter's U.S. publisher Scholastic Corp., Barnes & Noble gave reporters a tour of its distribution center -- but asked them to keep the location secret.

"We have had security all around the building, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Barnes & Noble Chief Executive Steve Riggio told Reuters.

In Britain, The Sunday Telegraph reported trucks carrying books from warehouses to shops will be fitted with satellite tracking systems to ensure they stick to assigned routes, while pallets of books have been fitted with alarms in an operation estimated to cost $20 million. British publisher Bloomsbury would not comment.

Barnes & Noble would not even say when it started taking delivery of the books or when they would be sent to more than 700 stores across America.

Hundreds of white boxes destined for retail stores were emblazoned in red with the book's title and strict instructions "Do not open before July 21, 2007."