I’m not sure how I missed this one when it came out earlier this year but when it was long listed for the Women’s Prize, I put it on hold at the library. I am very glad I did! Djinn Patrol is told from the POV of Jai, a young Indian boy living in a slum. When other children begin to disappear from the slum, Jai takes it upon himself to investigate, inspired by his favorite detective shows. His friend Faiz is convinced that Djinn (supernatural creatures) are kidnapping the children, while other member of the slum community blame the Muslim minority, including Faiz’s family. What starts out as almost a game for Jai turns more serious as more and more children disappear.

The author, Deepa Annapara, worked as a journalist in India prior to writing this novel and she based the story on real disappearances from a slum. I couldn’t help but be reminded of A Burning while reading this book. Similarly, Djinn Patrol deal with themes of caste division and their consequences in criminal situations, and does so in a way that feels more successful than A Burning. Since we see most of the events through Jai's eyes, there is a little reading between the lines that needs to happen to understand the full extent of the story.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this story and Annapara’s writing. Reading the story through Jai’s POV taught me a lot about it the slums of India and the tensions between religions and classes. I highly recommend it!

TW: disappearance of a child; death of a child; religious discrimination; physical violence; death of an animal