“What is a whole life? If you die when you’re still a child, is your life whole or half or zero?” asks the narrator of Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line. Jai is a nine year old boy from the slums of India whose schoolmate has disappeared and he is determined to find the missing boy. Jai is a fan of the TV crime drama Police Patrol and decides to apply all the “detectiving” skills he has learned from the show to his efforts to locate the missing boy, enlisting a couple of other schoolmates to help in the process. As they conduct their search, other children from their neighbourhood also go missing and although the local police are also enlisted to search for the missing, their services are lacklustre at best, and wholly ineffective.
Djinn Patrol is a well written and thoughtful commentary on the shocking statistic of missing children in the poorer areas of India. Some of these are runaways but many have been taken for the purpose of involuntary organ donation, sex trafficking and other exploitation. The story is all the more moving and poignant because it is told using the voice of a child. It is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit which somehow can carry on despite extreme poverty, societal rejection and indifference, and repeatedly being told you are unworthy of sharing in the bounty that accidents of birth have afforded others.
This book, although disturbing, is one that should be read.

This is a very powerful and beautifully written book, even as its subject matter is tough to take. Reading it, you are transported to that world and get inside of the heads of characters that you care about. The voice is authentic, and the outcome of the search for missing children is even more gut-wrenching because we read about in the words of a child from that world.

The narrator of the story point of view, 9 years old Jai, rarely wavers. The reader sees this grim story through him or through the eyes of the children at the moment they are taken. We only know and see what Jai sees and knows. The pace is slow but once you get into the story, it's hard to stop. I read the last half in a few hours. I needed to see the story to the end. We see, feel, almost smell the life in this basti where poverty, corruption, surviving are an everyday challenge.

This book is beautifully written. The words seem to leap off the page, creating a dynamic, three-dimensional image of metropolitan India. It felt like I was actually there. The language, while beautiful, can be hard to follow at first, as Anappara uses many Indian words in casual conversation. While the meaning of the words can be discerned from context, I wish I’d noticed the glossary at the end of the e-book before reading the story. That said, I don’t think not knowing the exact meaning of words impacted my enjoyment of their use.

The protagonist is a child named Jai, and his entire world is tinted by rose-coloured glasses. He has an innocent and naive perception of everything that goes on around him, which is demonstrated through both his observations and the prose.

The book mostly comes from Jai’s point of view, but we also get scenes from the missing children – their last memories before they disappear. This in itself is heartbreaking, particularly after reading the author’s afterword. 180 children go missing every year in India, which is a shocking statistic that makes the words on these pages even more poignant.

My favourite parts of this book were the parts where Jai’s friend, Faiz, would state that the djinn were stealing the souls of the children. Brought up casually in conversation, I think this served several important purposes. It added a supernatural air of mystery to the story and it reinforced our perception of these children’s innocence, but it also created a beautiful metaphor for the true malignant cause of the disappearances.

This book is marketed as a mystery, but I disagree. From the description on Goodreads, I’d gotten the impression that it was about a group of children searching for their lost friend, and that it would read similarly to Stranger Things or The Goonies. This isn’t the case. Jai is compelled to search for the missing boy that he barely knew. The story is not at all plot driven. It is primarily setting and character driven, and the focus isn’t at all on his search. While his friends are three-dimensional characters in this story, I never got the feeling that they have an unbreakable bond and would go to the ends of the earth to find each other should one of them go missing. The story itself doesn’t carry with it a sense of hope that I prefer to see in coming of age stories. It’s more of a harsh removal of the rose-coloured glasses, and we see the world for what it really is. Gloomy.

I recommend this book for someone wanting to get lost in the streets of Metropolitan India. This is a coming of age story more than a mystery, and it delivers a powerful commentary on a true story, and how tragedy can shape an entire community.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is the kind of story most cannot imagine. It is a novel that lives the poverty of India’s slums from the eyes of its most innocent, the children. A story told from the almost acceptable view that children disappear, that this can happen not once, but again and again, yet it is the youngest that may be the last to accept this. Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC for my honest review.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara is a fascinating, though heartbreaking, immersion into the reality of life for many children living in India today. The author's experience as a journalist with extensive knowledge of the ongoing tragedy of missing children lends a heft and gravitas to the voice of young Jai that is different from anything that I have previously read.

This is an eye opening, heartfelt, and very personal account of life in metropolitan India, and it will stay with the reader long after the final page has been turned. Recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Where do you start with such an incredible book? I am so grateful to Netgalley for sending out an email about this arc because I wouldn't have discovered it on my own. I didn't go into this book expecting to love it as much as I do now––I didn't even know what to expect really. I saw the word djinn, skimmed the synopsis and thought "Okay, this sounds cool" and requested it. Little did I know that I would finish this arc and feel so many emotions. I'm heartbroken and shocked, and so incredibly sad. But I'm also mesmerized by what I've read. The beauty and innocence and lighthearted moments that Jai experiences in this book will stay with me forever.

The Writing

I did read the arc version, so while the format wasn't that great, I was completely taken with the writing style.

I'll admit, at first I found the use of Hindi words in the actual dialogue and narrative to be a bit jarring and weird. But then it hit me the reason why. It just felt so real. They were words I understood, words that I've used myself, words I've heard my mom use a lot at home (how many times has she called my brother a goonda lol). It felt like home. And I hadn't expected to feel that way.

The writing style is also pretty unique. The book reads like a middle-grade book. Our main character Jai, is nine years old, and unlike a lot of middle-grade books I've read, where the main character's dialogue and inner monologue are written in a way where you would think the character is much older than they actually are, this book doesn't do that. It captures Jai's naivety and innocence and confusion so well, that I had to stop in the middle of reading and think "Wow, I've never seen a book written this way, but it's perfect and realistic and how books should be written."

Considering the writing style, the Hindi phrases and words used made complete sense and really fit with the main character. I laughed out loud so many times, especially the scene where Jai says "Papa, ma is doing drama-baazi again." 

If you're reading this review and are Indian or Pakistani, or just know Hindi, you will love this book, I promise! The lighter moments are just so heartwarming, and the descriptions of food and chai are mouthwatering, and just the culture and day-to-day aspects of life are things we've either experienced or heard stories from our parents and grandparents.

Culture and Religious Commentary

I wanted to talk about this for a bit because it was really well done and it just fits so well with what is currently happening in India right now.

The basti that Jai lives in is predominantly Hindu (though Jai's friend Faiz, a Muslim, does live there too), but the Bhoot Bazaar and surrounding area have a lot of Muslims. Seeing the tensions between the two escalate as the story unfolds was difficult to read about, but also felt so real and current.

I loved the way Deepa did this. We get to see how stories travel, and how they're changed and embellished as they're passed from person to person. How gossip and rumours take what was originally the truth and turn it into something dark and ugly.

We see this done really well when another girl from the nearby area disappears. People start saying that Chandni was a prostitute and worked at a brothel and that she fell in love with some old Muslim man, or that she was working at a brothel because her father was awful and of course she disappeared and was dead because what would you expect from someone like that, and on and on. Her story, her life, was twisted because of people who either didn't know better or just came up with their own conclusions. When we actually get to read from Chandni's POV, we realize how different things were. But because of that rumour that was started, many Hindus started blaming Muslims, saying one of them had taken Chandni, and that they must also be behind the other kidnappings. It let to attacks and arrests. Muslims were scared to leave their homes for work and school. Many of the basti parents didn't want their children interacting with Muslims. There were retaliations and the blame just went around and around. Even when two Muslim children disappeared, it was assumed that whichever Muslim who had kidnapped the others, must have kidnapped one of their own to curb suspicions. Muslims also became wary around the Hindus and at the end of the book we see many Muslim families who lived in Jai's basti, moving to a Muslim one where they felt safer.

I found the cultural aspects to be especially well done too.

Life is hard for these kids. They live mostly in poverty, with not a lot of food, no running water. Their home life is awful. Many girls stay at home instead of going to school to take care of their younger brothers and sisters. Those who do go don't have access to quality education. Many kids have to skip class in order to help out their family when times are difficult. A lot of kids work after school or on the weekends. And then you have the abuse that many of these kids face at home, the awareness that life isn't like this for everyone, and the longing that maybe they could get out of this situation and become something more. We see in these POVs how badly these kids want better lives. Bahadur doesn't want to have to sleep on the streets when his mom works late because he's scared of his alcoholic father. Omvir doesn't want to spend the rest of his life pressing clothes like his father. Chandni wants to learn English and get a better job, and she doesn't want people to see her only for her beauty. Kabir and Khadifa have their own dreams. And yes, some of these dreams might be childish, like Omvir wanting to become a famous dancer. But they are kids, and you realize by reading their POVs how young and innocent their hopes are, yet they do still hope.

The girls' POVS really stuck out to me. Chandni getting harassed by men wherever she goes because of how she looks and dresses, the rumours people come up with that she has to endure, the hard work she puts in to better herself. We see Khadifa being scared that if her brother continues acting out and her parents finally notice, she'll be sent off to her grandparents' village with her brother and be married off at 14, when all she wants to do is enjoy her childhood and have fun dressing up with her friends. We see another POV where a girl struggles with wanting to pursue her dream, but knowing that no one really supports her and how they're just waiting for her to finally become like other girls and eventually get married. She hates seeing her body go through changes because she wishes she were a boy and had a lot more freedom. It's just so sad, but a reality for so many people, especially girls, and it's not just limited to one religion or culture, it happens to everyone.

Our "Detectiving" Trio

I loved, loved, loved our main trio so much. I definitely got some Harry, Ron and Hermione vibes from them too lol

We have Jai, of course, our main character. His Hindu friend Pari, and his Muslim friend Faiz.

I think my favourite part was their friendship and how they teased each other and helped each other through difficult times. When the other Hindus started blaming Muslims for the kidnappings, Jai and Pari didn't turn their backs on Faiz, but stuck by his side. Jai even thinks multiple times how it doesn't make sense that everyone is blaming Muslims for being awful, just like you can't blame all Hindus if an actual Hindu is kidnapping the children. That moment there made my heart hurt. Children are so innocent and open-minded. They don't always cling onto prejudices that they see their parents or family or friends preaching. They look at their experiences and judge appropriately.

I absolutely loved Pari. She gave me major Hermione vibes, but less bossy and annoying. She's so intelligent and sharp, and I adored the moments when Jai was like "That was a good question to ask, why didn't I come up with that?" or when he goes "Ugh, why is Pari so good and smart, why can't I be that way?" It made me laugh cause it's so cute. Pari loves to read and cares so much about school and going further with her education. That's most of the reason why she reminded me of Hermione, plus her dynamic with the other boys and her constantly fighting with Faiz reminded me of Hermione and Ron fighting all the time. She's also so friendly and makes friends with everyone, and she's kind and caring, and tries to do the right thing. She's all round a loveable character.

The Ending

*THIS MIGHT BE SPOILERY SO BEWARE*

I will say that this book starts off in a lighthearted way. Yes, we see a boy in the basti has disappeared, but as Jai and his friends start looking for clues and "detectiving" (as they call it), there's this sense of hope I got that eventually they'd find something or someone would be able to solve the mystery and we'd get a relatively happy ending. But as more and more kids disappear, we start to see how Jai and Pari and Faiz aren't really getting anywhere with this mystery, and it makes sense when you think about it. In reality, you can't expect a bunch of nine-year-olds to solve something this big and complex. But they're children and their innocence really shows. The police are useless as we see. The pradhan doesn't seem to care either, until things get really bad at the end, and even then he's more self-obsessed than anything. There's no one to help them, so they take it upon themselves. Jai uses his "knowledge" from watching Police Patrol and other crime shows, Pari uses her intellect, and Faiz joins along on their hunt through the alleys and corners of Bhoot Bazaar.

Seeing how useless the police is really hit me because it's something I've constantly heard from my parents when they talk about Pakistan. Seeing the bribes the parents of the missing kids gave the policemen and nothing come out of it was maddening. No one cared cause these kids are poor, they live in the "slums", and the upper-class people think they're a waste of space anyway. So why spend time and money and energy finding them? The police argued that the kids probably ran away as they do and decided to live on the streets but that they'd be back eventually. But months go by and there's nothing. Everything the police does, all the supposed paperwork etc. takes forever or doesn't actually occur. It's frustrating, and this book really showed how messed up the system is.

The last quarter of the book, it really started to hit me where this book was going. The POVs we get of the kidnapped children made me think maybe, maybe, there was hope that they were somewhere safe. The djinn aspect of this book, though not as huge of a role in the story as I was expecting, made me think maybe a friendly djinn was taking care of them. Or that there was an evil djinn and the trio would fight him somehow lol. But in reality these evil djinn are just evil people. When we finally get to see what happened I was shocked and horrified. I was somewhat expecting it, but even after that I still thought that things would be okay, that some of the kids would be found alive and safe. But they aren't. And that's the reality. The author states how 180 kids in India disappear everyday due to child-trafficking, slave labour, etc. It's awful to think about.

The ending was honestly really sad and heartbreaking. We see how certain cycles repeat themselves as Jai's parents break down in their grief. Even Jai himself feels alone and isolated as his friends move away to a different school and basti. He only has his dog, Samosa, and the voice of his sister following him around. It makes you think and wonder what'll happen next and if they'll ever have the answers to their questions, and whether the victims will get the justice they deserve.

One thing that stuck out to me was this quote from Jai:

"I'll never watch Police Patrol again. When they act out real stories of people getting snatched or killed, it will feel as if someone is trying to strangle me, I just know it. A murder isn't a story for me anymore; it's not a mystery either."

I think this summarizes why I find it so hard to listen to stories of people disappearing and getting killed. Because they are true stories that happened to actual people. The pain that they must have gone through, the nightmares their family must have had during and since, it's just all so real and it's hard for me to see what happened as a story, dramatized.

Overall, this book gets 4.5/5 stars from me. Highly, highly recommend. It is a difficult read, but I think it's quite worth it, and it highlights important issues that are overlooked and we should be aware of.

This novel is about children living in poverty in India. It isn’t a tale of misery, although there are certainly suffering and tragedies. It’s a tale of resilience and above all, of individuals and families, not mere than two-dimensional images of the “suffering poor”. The young characters in this novel are, like children everywhere, figuring out how to live, not merely how to survive, in their surroundings. They know there’s a big world out there somewhere, but naturally what’s most important to them is what’s most immediate – their homes and families, their friends, their hopes for enough work to get the necessities of life and maybe a little more. Some do not have a family, only the fleeting companionship of others like themselves or the attentions of those who protect or use street children – or, sometimes, both. Others have families – strong families, or weak ones – and all of them move in an ocean of neighbours and small business owners. They are all individuals, and they all search for a meaningful life in their own way. Some turn to drugs, some work hard at school or participate in sports or find some kind of paid work. Some, related to those who have official leadership positions, thrive in the power they have in an area with no rival and independent authority – the ultimate big fish in a little pond. Some, like the main narrator, try, to solve some of the problems around them. The odds are overwhelmingly against them, but most of them still try to live well.

They do this in the face of the innumerable disadvantages of living in a society which has none of the structures the more fortunate of us take for granted. Limited and poorly paid opportunities to work, erratic or nearly non-existent infrastructure, poor schools and a police service that ranges from ineffective to corrupt are challenges for everyone who lives near the Bhoot Bazaar. What official leadership they have is not above manipulating them and the different groups among them for their own ends. But the slum residents – particularly the children – take the only world they know and live in it. They may eventually be defeated by circumstances outside their control, but for now they go to school, quarrel with their siblings, and listen to (or sometimes pretend to listen to) their parents and the network of neighbours surrounding them. They are individuals, not some stereotype of the “deprived child”. That is a useful reminder of the humanity of people who live in poverty.

One very interesting aspect of this novel is the way many of the children use the power of stories to survive – they re-tell and re-form the tales of those they knew until they have their own kind of saint to look to for support, since there is little or none to come from anyone else. It’s very believable, and a brilliant example of one of the ways humans create connections for support.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a vivid portrayal of people living in a situation most of us have never experienced.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Deepa Anappara and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Delving into to the darker side of life in India, Deepa Anappara presents readers with this most impactful mystery. With close to two hundred children disappearing off Indian streets daily, this story about a missing child leaves the reader feeling a little less than comfortable. Jai may only be nine years old, but he seems to know just how life ought to be. When a boy goes missing in his school, Jai works with some of his friends to locate the young boy. Well-versed on police procedurals from his time watching television, Jai is sure hat he can lead a brigade just like on the screen. He’ll come across a great deal fo poverty, with people who will do and sell anything for their next meal, and travel late into the night to the far reaches of the city, all in hopes of capturing a killer, just like those on television. Refusing to back down, Jai encounters a number of stumbling blocks along the way, including incompetent police officers, members of gangs, and even the mysterious djinn, a spirit with a penchant for children. Forgetting the danger that creeps up regularly Jai will not return without answers, all in a place where another missing child is swept into the rubbish bin and forgotten. Jai refuses to ignore his intuition, even as those around him write him off as foolish. An interesting take with a strong backstory, surely of interest to some readers. That being said, I could not effectively connect with the story and it left me needing more to sustain my attention.

I am always fascinated to learn about new countries and cultures, particularly when the reader hails from that part of the world. Deepa Anappara not only spent her early life in India, but has written extensively about child disappearances and poverty on the streets. She brings much to the table in this piece, using a number of essential young characters to give the story a different perspective. The use of Jai and his friends helps to enrich the story for a reader who may know little about life on the streets or the horrible statistics about missing children. As this young boy looks for his classmate, he is fuelled by the sense that he, too, can locate someone in short order, as though he were closing a case before the credits scroll, like his favourite television personalities. The cast of characters seems to work well, different from one another and always trying to provide additional flavouring when it is useful. The story itself was well crafted and paces itself relatively well. I suppose I found myself lost in the shuffle from character depictions and how things developed. There is a strong story and the narrative keeps the reader intrigued, but I could not find a place on which to latch myself. Like many of the faceless people who see and hear nothing, I felt as though the essential aspects of the book passed me by. To see that others enjoyed it is pleasing, though I am surely going to sit in the minority outside the tent and say that this book was not one I found stellar.

Kudos, Madam Anappara, for shedding some light on the horrors of missing children. I trust many will find the pieces I could not in this novel and give you the praise you seek.

A sweet, yet touching and sad story of a country with an epidemic of disappearing children. Powerful in its simplicity as told from a child's view and still convincing and heartbreaking for an adult reading it.
The writing reaches all your senses and will leave you gasping at the rawness conveyed in the characters lives.
Strongly recommend for anyone from India, or those who have travelled there as an experience not shown in hotel brochures.
"The lucky ones are those who can grow old pretending they have some control over their lives, but even they will realize at some point that everything is uncertain, bound to disappear forever. We are just specks of dust in this world, glimmering for a moment in the sunlight and then disappearing into nothing. You have to learn to make your peace with that."
#DjinnPatrolonthePurpleLine #NetGalley

Great characters and character development. It did take me a little while to get into the story, get used to the Indian words I didn't understand but eventually just by the way they were used I was able to get the gist. Really enjoyed this debut novel, look forward to reading more from Anappara.

This book is fairly interesting: set in modern India, three children begin investigating the disappearance of their classmate. We learn that 180 children go missing in India everyday--which is probably one of the most horrifying statistics I've ever learned. I ended up googling more about it...and it's just really awful.

I've definitely never read a book set in India, written by an Indian author, so I'm glad these diverse narratives are becoming more available and accessible. This book is also shedding light on an awful social reality for Indian children, mixed with the mythology of djinn. Of course, I really can't tell how realistic the portrayal of Indian life is in story, given that my own knowledge of life in India is incredibly limited.

However, I did find it difficult to get into the story. I felt like there was no real atmosphere or grounding; there were hints of ethnic/religious prejudice between Muslims and Hindus, and we're told there are mobile phones, but I was otherwise not sure how everything was working together in society. I think solidifying the setting--the cultural, religious, ethnic, political issues in a place as diverse as India--would have helped keep me grounded in the story as a reader being introduced to a new place.

The writing did feel a bit weak: it was very dialogue-heavy and it took me a while to realize the narrator was only nine years old. Young narrators can sometimes be interesting in their unique, innocent perspectives. However, I'm not necessarily sure it added anything special here.

Overall, I think it's an interesting premise exploring a real issue. That said, I'm not sure the execution was quite there. Sadly, a pass for me.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a fascinating read. It is a debut novel by Deepa Anappara, a journalist with direct experience of life in India and hundreds of children who go missing every year. The protagonist is Jai, a nine-year Hindu boy, who watches a lot of police shows on TV and fancies himself a budding detective, and his friends who live in a low income area of a settlement (basti). The living conditions are poor with liitle sanitation facilities, lack of water and insufficient food. Their parents work all day to eke out a marginal living. One day a kid from their school goes missing. Jai enlists two of his friends , Pari (a girl) and Fari (a Muslim boy) to launch a search for Bhadapur. They search a wide variety of places, a garbage dump, an abandoned building and the train station (hence the Purple Line of the title). Over time some other kids disappear. The police get involved but start to blame Muslims who live in the area, in a tinge of racism. But when two Muslim kids also disappear the puzzle deepens. Then near the end Jai's athletic sister also disappears. An underlying theme that surfaces is the inferior quality of the justice available to the poor compared with the greater attention given by the authorities to the problems of the rich.

"Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line" by Deepa Anappara is an extraordinary adventure story of nine years old boy Jai who is looking for a missing classmate with his friends Pari and Faiz. Jai learned detective skills by watching TV and wants to apply them to his real life case. He asks Pari and Faiz to be his assistants but Pari is much smarter than him and Faiz is busy working while Jai is easily distracted.

The backdrop of this seemingly children detective/adventure story is Jay's poor "basti" (settlement) where people line up to use a shared and paid toilet and where people in poverty work for rich "hi-fi" people living in high-rise buildings named as "Palm Springs and Mayfair and Golden Gate and Athena." Next to the basti, there are "the lanes of Bhoot Bazaar, which are crammed with too many people and dogs and cycle-rickshaws and autorickshaws and e-rickshaws." Between Jai's basti and the buildings there is a rubbish ground. And the area is covered in the smog.

My expectation was an exciting adventure story where our heroes are navigating through these narrow lanes, observing neighbours' lives and even venturing out to the city, ending up a Bollywood dancing of the basti people.

Then the second child disappears and the story takes a dark turn as the fragile society starts to show inner cracks. Racism against Muslims, drinking problems, police corruption and social inequalities (men vs women & the rich vs the poor, the powerless vs the powerful) become prominent.

The book opens with magic realism along with a story of "Mental" who is guarding street kids as a ghost but ends with realism. The book begins with children's adventure but ends with offering a serious stare at the society filled with problems.

In "Afterwords" the author asks a very important question; "How do you find hope when you are told there is none?" However, we see friendship, the sense of community, solidarity and even love through the eyes of this charming narrator Jai, who does not wash himself, who has to work hard to pay money he stole for his detective works, who innocently believes that a dog can easily chase a missing person by smell, and who is not sure whether djinns are kidnappers or not.

(Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada, for offering me a chance to read this book.)

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.

A heartbreaking story told from the point of view of 9 year old Jai - an impoverished Hindu child living in an Indian Slum. Jai lines up to use the pay toilet, attends a government school in a too small uniform, passing by Bhoot Bazaar and a rubbish heap and returns home (often hungry) to a one room shack shared with his Mother, Father and Older sister - but at least they have a TV.

Despite his meagre surroundings, Jai is a vibrant child prone to imagination, not once playing the victim. When children begin to go missing from his Basti he recruits his friends Pari and Faiz to assist him with his detective work. The trio set out on a dangerous mission to find the kidnapper, able to take risks while their parents are at work. When the missing children increase it is clear that the police (while accepting bribes) are unwilling to look into the disappearances. With the parents anger mounting, fingers begin pointing at the Muslim community, inadequate police work, and the wealthy residents of the nearby gated community who treat their Basti employees as slaves. Jai and his assistants are forced to set their investigation aside when it is clear the kidnapper is beyond their reach and the danger hits even closer to home.

What a fascinating, yet horribly sad, story highlighting the inadequacies of justice between the Rich and the Poor. Even the suffering of children is not enough to bridge the gap.

I found this book very hard to get into, there are a lot of words used in India that I didn't understand. It wasn't until I was about 35% into the book that I started to catch on to the words through the context. Of course when I got to the end of the book there was a list of some of the words used, it should be at the front I believe. Once you do get caught up in the story you want to just keep reading. Although the characters may be fictious, I believe from the authors background that a lot of this story is very close to the lives that the people of the lowest caste live. It is a story that will make you laugh at some of the antics of the children but it will also make your heart cry with the things they have to live. I found the descriptions of the places that this story takes place in to be very interesting. If I was to ever get the chance to go to India I would love to walk through a bazaar. The sounds, the smells, the different languages the people speak and the colors of their clothing, make it sound exciting. I have a friend that is Indian and she told me you must be careful in the markets and bazaars to not pick anything up, even just to look at or you are taking a chance of having your hand cut off. You don't touch without permission. My heart goes out to the way these people live, there are many things I don't understand. How can you let a cow wonder around without eating it when you are so hungry. I realize it's part of their belief, I just don't understand. This is a good book if you would like a better idea of what it is like in the slums of India.
I received a free download of this book from Netgalley. It was my own decision to leave a review this is my own honest opinion.

This is a tragic story that underlines the shocking fact that an estimated 180 children go missing in India each day. It describes the religious, social, and financial divides problematic in modern India. The story immersed me in the vibrantly described sights, food and fragrances of its slum setting. Here the people mostly love their children and care for the people in their neighbourhood despite the poverty, drudgery, and the squalor in which they live. The trauma of missing children began to raise their suspicions, and anger at their corrupt and inefficient police force.

Nine-year-old Jai, a Hindu schoolboy is obsessed with detective and police shows on TV. He decides to become a child detective and enlists two of his schoolmates to serve as his assistants after a boy at his school, Bahadur, goes missing. Pari is smarter but is given a subordinate role because she is a girl. His friend Faiz, is. Moslem boy. He misses a lot of school as he needs to work to help his parents. Their investigation starts amidst complete indifference by the local police. The police make no effort to look for Bahadur, claiming he ran away.

The investigations by the three amateur detectives take them into very dangerous parts of the city, such as the busy marketplace, the filthy local dump, the bordello district, and the train station at the end of the Blue Line. Rising above their dirty, ramshackle slum neighbourhood can be seen the highrise apartments and penthouses of the wealthy. As they interview families, shopkeepers, friends and suspects, they find no evidence of what happened to their missing schoolmate. Jai and Faiz suspect he may have been snatched by an evil Jinn (spirit), but the less superstitious Pari tries to dissuade them of this belief.

Soon other children go missing. Omvir, a friend of Bahadur, vanishes. Next, a 16-year-old girl, Aanchal, disappears. The police insist that Omvir has simply run away and refuse any search effort. Aanchal was a good girl employed as a beautician while studying English in hopes of becoming a call centre worker. The police, with no valid evidence, said she was a brothel worker in her 20s and had run away with a much older Moslem lover. When next, a 4-year-old girl disappears, not only are the parents of the missing distraught, but the entire neighbourhood is frantic and afraid for the safety of the children.

Since these five children were all Hindus, the suspicion and blame falls on local Moslems, putting innocent Moslem lives are in danger. When people complain about the inefficiency and disinterest of the police, they are threatened that their homes will be bulldozed for stirring up trouble. The case becomes more difficult when two Moslem children, a brother and sister, are next to disappear. Jai is becoming discouraged with his Djinn Patrol’s lack of progress, and then to add to the tragic crime wave, his older sister, a star athlete, is next to disappear.

Will Jai and his two friends manage to find any of the missing youngsters or any evidence of what happened to them? Who is committing these atrocious crimes? What is the motivation? Will his sister be found in time? What will be the aftermath for their families and neighbours?

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this poignant and heartfelt story based on alarming facts.