Vanity searching for references to my book,
Loisaida -- A New York Story, I came across Nomesque's reference above. Just to clarify -- Loisaida is not entirely in the present tense. There are multiple narrators and points of view guaranteed to annoy
many readers. Some chapters are written in present while others are in past. There's a diary section, some third person and some first as well. Basically, something to frustrate any reader expecting a straight narrative.
It's interesting to read here that some are turned off immediately by the first person. The decision to write the first chapter in present was made late in the revision process. I wanted a sense of immediacy up front and to somehow establish the time frame as the present with most of the story taking place sometime before the opening chapter. In some of the later chapters I've used present to get inside the head of characters who pretty much live in the present and aren't very reflective. I always knew I would use different voices to tell the story. As a writer, I didn't think when I wrote it: "This will make it difficult for some readers to follow, so I should tell it more simply." I knew from the beginning that this was a story that was going to be told from different points of view and voices. As I revised and got reader feedback, I struggled to make it easier for readers by making the voices as distinct as I could. The people who enjoy the book, enjoy the voices and don't mind the shifts, but ultimately not every book is for every reader.
Like the OP writer, I also usually know early on whether or not a book is for me. For me the criteria probably has to do with that hard to define quality of "voice." It doesn't matter what tense or person or even genre. If there's a quality that signals to me that the writer is clear in his/her intent and I have confidence that he/she is going to have a good story to tell, I'm there.