something about Hunger Games is just great, exciting, fun reading. The next two books not so much, but I couldn't put the first book down. I don't read enough, or pay enough attention to different books/authors/genres to answer your actual question, though.

As you're an author, I know you have to analyze the protagonist's motivation and all that, but most people just want an exciting book to read and Hunger Games delivers that in spades. The author probably could have built more of a world and delved into characters, but then the book would've been 300 pages longer and it wouldn't have had that feel of a runaway traing speeding to destruction.