The Adventures of Jimmie Dale

Annoying and overly melodramatic writing style coupled with a silly plot. A few good moments but not enough to sustain my interest. Apparently some people enjoyed it so decide for yourself.

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.

Fast-paced stories of the capers committed by the Gray Seal, a 20th-century Robin Hood, a "Philanthropic Crook," at the bidding of a mysterious and omniscient woman.

These tales were probably originally a serial, and they're better read in pieces -- too much of Jimmie Dale's derring-do at one sitting becomes cloying, an excess of mind candy. Nevertheless, the episodes build to an exciting conclusion.

This was my first venture into what I think is considered pulp fiction. Oh my. It is a hoot. At first I couldn't understand why every 20 pages or so the author would reiterate who Jimmie Dale was, his difficult mission, and what a wonderful hero he was. Then it dawned on me that this must have been serialized. If all of that would have been edited out when the episodes were released in book form, the number of pages would probably have been halved. As to the story line. It is absolutely preposterous. Perhaps that is the norm for pulp fiction? Whatever the case, it was funny--perhaps unintentionally? Worth reading just for the absurdity. Jimmie Dale--who by the way is always referred to as Jimmie Dale, never Dale or Jimmie--is a very rich young gentleman about town who lives a double life. His other personal is as the Grey Seal a true hero who is misunderstood by the police who believe him to be an archcriminal. He works for a mysterious woman whom he has never seen but who leaves him written directives that he dare not refuse because whe knows his real identity. He has all sorts of disguises that allow him to infiltrate the criminal underworld. It is truly ridiculous, and as silly as it sounds, I am glad that I read it! Enjoy?

The protagonist has an “automatic revolver”. I wonder what kind of weapon is it? Though what claim one can lay to pulp fiction?