Aspartame

I read Joanne Harris' Chocolat a few years back. I remember thinking that it was a pleasant read but that I wouldn't bother reading any more of her work. Thing is, I can't remember what it was that brought me to that somewhat contradictory conclusion. Anyway, I read her Gentlemen & Players the other day. Again it was an entertaining pleasant read, yet at the end of it there was nothing. Its like I had no engagement with it. To give you an idea, when I read most books where violence is being done, careers destroyed and people being killed there is a sense of threat. Here there was no feeling of threat at all - it was just stuff happening. Pleasant entertaining stuff but nothing else. It's like drinking caffeine free diet coke - taste and bubbles but what does it actually give you.