Blurb:

We children are not just stories. We live. Come and see.

Nine-year-old Jai watches too many reality cop shows, thinks he’s smarter than his friend Pari (even though she always gets top marks) and considers himself to be a better boss than Faiz (even though Faiz is the one with a job).

When a boy at school goes missing, Jai decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from episodes of Police Patrol to find him. With Pari and Faiz by his side, Jai ventures into some of the most dangerous parts of the sprawling Indian city; the bazaar at night, and even the railway station at the end of the Purple Line. But kids continue to vanish, and the trio must confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force and soul-snatching djinns in order to uncover the truth.

Review:

Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line has been on my TBR since Deepa Anappara appeared on the New Blood panel at Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in 2020. It has taken me a while to get to it but it was absolutely worth the wait. Deepa Anappara writes about life in a Indian “basti”, which is where the very poorest families live. It’s often not a pleasant place to live, but Deepa Anappara takes the reader right there and I could see everything in vivid detail, hear the cacophony of sounds and smell everything as if it was right under my nose and I really appreciate that the author has introduced me to an environment I didn’t know much about previously.

The narrator of Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line is Jai, and we see everything through his nine year old eyes. Deepa Anappara has created such a distinctive voice which feels really authentic. I couldn’t help but warm to Jai straight away. I loved the sense of community in the basti and the relationships he shared with his family and friends were really heartwarming.

I’m used to reading novels that are quite fast paced and Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line does not fit this, so it did take me some time to become fully engaged in the plot line. However, there is a growing sense of tension as the situation escalates and I did feel invested in the characters, hoping they would be safe.

I’m not sure if Deepa Anappara is still writing fiction, but I would definitely be interested in reading more of her work in future.

Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line is available from Amazon.