the book itself deserves to be rated "excellent" but the formatted version on this site is another question. having also downloaded the photographed original book (or rather books, since it appeared in three volumes), I cannot help but notice so many punctuation mark mistakes (added commas, full stops written down as exclamation points or question marks, etc.). Well, it's rather tolerable, but why can't it simply be formatted correctly? After all, I prefer the arrangement of text exposed here (with so many possibilities for so many devices) to the photographed original but the text itself should not be altered by mistakes.
The first page is so awash with errors of tense. punctuation and structure that this would be reader gave up. A proofreader with a working knowledge of English might be a good idea next time...
This is about standard for this type of "adventure". Compare the description of what Jimmy Dale does with Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op or Sam Spade:a man who skirts, or breaks, the law for the higher good. Frank Packard was a popular author for many years.
Leo: there was an "automatic revolver", the Webley-Fosdick [I believe] It looked like s Webley revolver, but the barrel and cylinder slid on the grip and firing mechanism; the cylinder had a zigzag track cut into it to make it turn as it recoiled.