Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara, 347 pages.
Jai, Pari, and Faiz all live in the same basti (or slum settlement) in an unnamed Indian city. When the second of their classmates goes missing, Jai believes that he has learned enough from television to become a first class detective and solve the mystery around them. Jais first suspect, a fellow student, is a bully, and connected to a local nationalist group. No one is willing to help, though. The local police are corrupt, and no one with any real power is interested in the fate of the poor, let alone poor children.
Pari is the smart one of the three children, but Jai is somewhat scornful of her advice. Faiz, who holds down a job at a tea shop is too busy to help and tries to convince Jai that the disappearances are the work of malign Djinn, but as the disappearances mount and the children witness too much of the worst that people can do, the truth is more horrifying and prosaic. A compelling book.
