Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Discover the ‘extraordinary’ (The Washington Post) debut novel that ‘announces the arrival of a literary supernova’ (The New York Times Book Review),‘a drama of childhood that is as wild as it is intimate’ (Chigozie Obioma).
 
WINNER OF THE EDGAR® AWARD • ONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Time, The Washington Post, NPR, The Guardian, Library Journal

In a sprawling Indian city, a boy ventures into its most dangerous corners to find his missing classmate. . . .

Through market lanes crammed with too many people, dogs, and rickshaws, past stalls that smell of cardamom and sizzling oil, below a smoggy sky that doesn’t let through a single blade of sunlight, and all the way at the end of the Purple metro line lies a jumble of tin-roofed homes where nine-year-old Jai lives with his family. From his doorway, he can spot the glittering lights of the city’s fancy high-rises, and though his mother works as a maid in one, to him they seem a thousand miles away. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line plunges readers deep into this neighborhood to trace the unfolding of a tragedy through the eyes of a child as he has his first perilous collisions with an unjust and complicated wider world.

Jai drools outside sweet shops, watches too many reality police shows, and considers himself to be smarter than his friends Pari (though she gets the best grades) and Faiz (though Faiz has an actual job). When a classmate goes missing, Jai decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from TV to find him. He asks Pari and Faiz to be his assistants, and together they draw up lists of people to interview and places to visit.

But what begins as a game turns sinister as other children start disappearing from their neighborhood. Jai, Pari, and Faiz have to confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force, and rumors of soul-snatching djinns. As the disappearances edge ever closer to home, the lives of Jai and his friends will never be the same again.

Drawing on real incidents and a spate of disappearances in metropolitan India, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is extraordinarily moving, flawlessly imagined, and a triumph of suspense. It captures the fierce warmth, resilience, and bravery that can emerge in times of trouble and carries the reader headlong into a community that, once encountered, is impossible to forget.


Genre: Mystery

"Storytelling at its best—not just sympathetic, vivid, and beautifully detailed, but completely assured and deft . . . We care about these characters from the first page and our concern for them is richly repaid." - Anne Enright

"Deepa Anappara is a writer of considerable talent. This is a wonderful, energetic book filled with humour and pathos. Charming, sensitive and deeply moving." - Nathan Filer

"A brilliant debut." - Ian McEwan

"A magnificent achievement: the endeavours of the Djinn Patrol offer us a captivating world of wit, warmth and heartbreak, beautifully crafted through a child’s unique perspective." - Mahesh Rao

"A stunningly original tale . . . I stayed up late every night until I finished, reluctant to part from Deepa Anappara’s heart-stealing characters." - Etaf Rum

"Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a moving and confident novel about the preciousness of life. The storytelling is distinctive and immersive." - Nikesh Shukla

"Extraordinarily good, deeply moving and thought provoking with brilliant characterization . . . A very important book." - Harriet Tyce

"The children at the heart of this story will stay with you long after you turn the last page . . . A wonderful debut." - Christie Watson