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). 

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.

"It's not hard to see why Djinn Patrol is one of the most eagerly awaited debut novels this spring. It feels like a reckoning with modern India and its many complex problems... Anappara cleverly filters a uniquely Indian horror story through a chirpy, Famous Five-esque narrative and the voice of a witty, young, have-a-go hero."  -  Johanna Thomas-Corr, The Times

"Djinn Patrol is storytelling at its best. The prose is not just sympathetic, vivid, and beautifully detailed, but also completely assured and deft. We care about these characters from the first page and our concern for them is richly repaid."  -  Anne Enright, author of The Gathering