Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line
2020 • 368 pages
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings6
Average rating3.7
"Warning: if you begin reading the book in the morning, don't expect to get anything done for the rest of the day." --New York Times 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.
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I got my copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. Thanks to the publisher!
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is told from the point of view of slum children. 10 year old Jai is the main protagonist, and his friends Pari and Faiz, and his sister Runu all play major parts in the story. There are gangs of children who scavenge through garbage for an adult who gives them food, and there are families like Jai's who are living precariously on low wages in the slums, but have so far managed to keep themselves together. Nearby are the “hi-fi” apartment buildings where the well-off live, and where many of the slum residents work in domestic service.
In this story, children from the slum where Jai lives have started to go missing. Jai, who is a fan of TV detective shows, thinks that the police are not investigating as vigorously as they should, and decides that he and his friends can talk to the people the police aren't interviewing and ask the questions the police aren't asking. Over the course of the story, we become acquainted with the people Jai knows, the place where he lives and the conditions there. As more children go missing, the community becomes agitated, and Jai's confidence that he can find out what is happening wanes. Interspersed through the book are the stories that people from the community tell themselves to bring comfort, usually featuring the spirits of the dead who are watching out for the living in their times of need.
The author's postscript on this novel explains that in her years as a journalist in India she encountered many families whose children had gone missing, and that the issue stayed with her even when she moved away from her home country. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is 100% a novel, though, not a piece of reporting. Jai is a wonderful narrator, with enough understanding of his situation that his perspective is enlightening, but with very definite limitations. His emotional progression through the story is touching. The inclusion of the “saint” stories and the djinns accentuate how vulnerable these people are, but also add otherworldly beauty to an otherwise grim landscape.
