Anatomy of a discarded project

I have a trunk novel. Actually, I have many, but I want to talk about one in particular today.

It was compelling enough for me to get through two, or possibly three, drafts (I don't quite remember now), but something was missing. And so this manuscript has never even made it off my desk and into the hands of my first critiquers, because I don't like to have a book critiqued until I've already corrected all the problems I can see myself.

With this book, I knew there was something wrong, but I ...