Suppose the book has x pages. It was known that two-fifths of the book had been read, and the remaining pages were 135. Therefore, he read this book in total: 135/(2/5 + 1) = 625/7/5 = 1275 pages. Since the total number of pages in the book is x, there are: x = 1275 pages. Therefore, the total number of pages in the book was: x = 1275 pages.