Product Description

"I'd rank this book alongside Michael Frayn's The Tin Men, another neglected classic. I've wanted for years to see it back in print. It is one of those books you end up buying several copies of, because you just have to lend it to friends. It's very funny. It's very real." - from the introduction by Terry Pratchett

Smuggling plutonium out of a nuclear research centre is surprisingly easy. The difficult part is smuggling it back in again ...

The Leaky Establishment is an atomic farce whose author David Langford once worked in the gentle radioactive glow of Britain's nuclear weapons industry, and who hilariously satirises it from the inside. Black comedy overtakes the unfortunate defence scientist hero Roy Tappen when a "harmless" theft of office furniture lands him with his very own doomsday nuclear stockpile at home. Chain reactions of comic escapades follow, with disaster piled on disaster, leading the increasingly desperate Tappen to the borders of science fiction as he seeks a way out of the mess.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #596050 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 220 pages

Mary Gentle, Interzone
A comic novel with both verbal wit and comedy of situation.

Daily Mail
A splendid send-up.

AWRE News, house journal of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment
An agreeable romp.

Customer Reviews

NOT a Terry Pratchett book.
The title of this review say it all really. If you are thinking of buyng this book on the strength of Pratchett's name alone, you should be aware that this is a twenty year old book which has been re-released with an introduction by TP. If you are expecting something co-written by Pratchett, featuring magic and disc-shaped worlds, and that is all you really like, you will be disappointed.

It all smells like a bit of a marketing ploy by the publishers to resurrect an old title, which is a shame really because it is not a bad book, even if it does show its age a bit. I particularly liked the idea of someone playing Space Invaders on a computer which has a printer as its only output. Basically its an old-fashioned farce, based in a nuclear facility, which will strike a chord of recognition with anyone who has worked in the British public sector in any sort of capacity.

The important thing is to judge this book on its own merits, ignoring the red herring of Pratchett's name on the cover.

A good plot badly written
In the Introduction Terry Pratchett says that this was a book he wanted to write. It certainly has the usual Pratchett trade marks - characters who get into unlikely but amusing situations, stereotypes of people in high positions but with little common sense and completely mad and unlikely events told in a deadpan fashion. Unfortunately the actual characters are instantly forgetable - I even kept forgetting the name of the 'hero' - and after a while I wasn't really interested in what would happen next. In fact half way through I put it down and read another book before going back to it. I do wish that Pratchett HAD written it, with that plot it would have been a winner. It's made me realise just how good HIS books are when compared to others of the same genre.

Hilarious (In a terrifying kind of way)
Have you ever wondered what life was like inside Britains most secret Nuclear Establishment? Well now you can find out: Langford, himself a former Aldermaston inmate, builds this tale of innocence, incompetance, corruption and sheer bloody mindedness around an unlikely hero, Scientist Roy Tappen. Roy just wants an old filing cabinet for his magazines; Unfortunately the cleaners have left him a little something in the bottom drawer and Roy is now a member of the nuclear club. Much mental effort is expended and beer drunk as he tries to get this particular egg back into the chicken coop without raising the suspicions of the flat footed, yet blindly obstinate, MoD police. All of the old Civil Service types are represented here from the youthful Scientific Officer to the time serving Bureaucrat. All living out their lives in the down at heel surroundings of a leading scientific establishment. The home science experiment is fun too. Langford denies that the fictitious establishment depicted here is not Aldermaston. He is lying. Roy Tappen works in Langford's old Terrapin Hut (a 1950's Portacabin). I know, I knocked it down. The Leaky Establishment has the dubious honour of being the most borrowed book from the Aldermaston library. (And you thought we only read Science Journals)