Someone for the Reader to Care About

Sometimes I read books and the protagonists just leave me completely cold.

The books frequently have plenty of conflict. Bad things happen to these characters and we're supposed, as readers, to care about that.

But…I don't. And when I get to that point in a book, I might as well just scrap it, and usually do.

This doesn't mean the protagonist has to be a really good person. In fact, I can read books like the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay or The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia...