Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara is set in the slums that have risen along the Purple Line of an unnamed Indian city’s metro. When one of his classmates goes missing, nine year old Jai and his two friends Pari and Faiz decide investigate the disappearance. Jai is inspired by his favorite reality cop television program. As more children start to disappear, it seems as if this hapless trio are the only ones who are looking into the disappearance of these children.

The story is an excellent mixture of a coming-of-age with a mystery and an intense social commentary on life lived in these crowded slums. We learn of their day-to-day life, their food, clothing, education, religions and culture. The children know of no different life so they are for the most part cheerful and happy. Of course the fact that someone or something is taking children is constantly in the background and causing the rules to tighten, parents to become more demanding and freedoms to be curtailed. The tension builds as more children disappear and finally, someone very close to Jai is taken.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a compelling read that lays bare the complex social and political realities of modern day India and immerses us in Jai’s world both through his imagination and his very sharp observations. This difficult story filtered through a child’s eyes brings a sense of reality to the fact that in India up to 180 children go missing every day. These unfound and unlooked for children are from slums very much like the one that Jai lives in. ( )

Really a hard book to rate. I think it was excellently plotted, the characters were engaging and I was interested throughout. It reminded me of to kill a mockingbird, in that it explored complex issues like racism, religious intolerance ,class divisions and police brutality. That’s why I gave it the highest rating, but it left me feeling terrible, so hard to call it enjoyable ( )

Life in the slums of an Indian town at the end of the Purple line where the smell of diesel fumes mixes with the burlap bags in front of the spice wallahs store. Annaparra tells a story both news-current and fantastic. You must join the Djinn patrol. ( )

This book does a fantastic job of giving us an authentic 9 year old narrator, who talks and sees the world as a 9 year old. So often authors write "precocious" children, and not only are these characters insufferable, the author comes off as a bad writer because it reads as if they just took an adult character and shrunk it to child-size and called it a day. This author gets the voice 100% right, and it's a delight.

The story itself I really loved, which sounds odd given the grim topic but you know what I mean. It grabbed me from the first pages and kept me hooked. Highly recommend, for everyone! ( )

This debut novel is not so much a detective story as it is an in-depth look at the poor and vulnerable in a slum community in India. The main character, Jai, is a nine-year old boy who sees himself as a detective, ready to solve the disturbing cases of children disappearing from his neighborhood. As Jai and his two best friends compile clues, they learn about the way the adult world works and confront the injustices routinely suffered by the poor. Jai’s voice is probably the most authentic of any child protagonist I’ve encountered — and as a retired school librarian and book reviewer, I’ve “met” many child protagonists. Jai and his community will stay with the reader long after the story concludes. This is a powerful piece of fiction that entertains, enlightens, educates, and presents a community worthy of our acquaintance. ( )