Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel Shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature Longlisted for the Womens Prize for Fiction A New York Times Editors Choice and Notable Book of 2020 One of Times Must-Read Books of 2020 Warning: if you begin reading the book in the morning, dont expect to get anything done for the rest of the day. --New York Times Three children venture into the darkest corners of a sprawling Indian city to find their missing classmate, in a stunningly original debut novel--based on a true story. Nine-year-old Jai watches too many reality police shows, thinks hes smarter than his friend Pari (even though she gets the best grades), and considers himself to be a better boss than Faiz (even though Faiz is the one with a job). When a classmate goes missing, Jai decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from TV to find him. He asks Pari and Faiz to be his assistants and together they draw up lists of people to interview and places to visit. But what begins as a game