Books like The Mermaid and the Drunks

My bookcrossing review from 2008This has been sitting by the computer for almost a year. I have picked it up a few times, thought about reading it, but for some reason it just looked boring and unappealing. Anyway, I have finally read it! And it wasn´t boring or unappealing either which is always good.It´s a really well written book set in Chile. The way the guy describes the story against the backdrop of Chile - the different towns, the people, the culture - you do end up feeling like you have really experienced the country, and it does make you want to go and visit the place, even though it doesn´t always come across as the safest place in the world!It follows a group of people, Chilliens, a daughter of Chillien exiles who grew up in the UK but is just moving back to Chile, and a Scottish academic who is crazy about Chile and living in Santiago for a while whilst he writes his book (also on Chile). They get involved with a family whose young teenage son has disappeared in suspicious circumstances, and as they learn more about that, they understand that although the old regimes and Pinochet have gone, things are still not as fair and wonderful as people might hope.It was a good read and I did enjoy it but I found the ending lacking somehow. I don´t necessarily need a book to neatly tie up everything at the end, but this was just so... I can´t even think of a good word to describe it, but it was a little disappointing in that respect.