Imperial Bedrooms (Vintage Contemporaries)

Bret Easton Ellis’s debut, Less Than Zero, is one of the signal novels of the last thirty years, and he now follows those infamous teenagers into an even more desperate middle age."Brilliantly written and coolly self-aware... Here, as in Less Than Zero, Ellis is plumbing the depths of human nature, exposing it at its worst." - The ObserverClay, a successful screenwriter, has returned from New York to Los Angeles to help cast his new movie, and he’s soon drifting through a long-familiar circle. Blair, his former girlfriend, is married to Trent, an influential manager who’s still a bisexual philanderer, and their Beverly Hills parties attract various levels of fame, fortune and power. Then there’s Clay’s childhood friend Julian, a recovering addict, and their old dealer, Rip, face-lifted beyond recognition and seemingly even more sinister than in his notorious past."Ellis fans will delight in the characters and Ellis's easy hand in manipulating their fates, and though the novel's synchronicity with Less than Zero is sublime, this also works as a stellar stand-alone." - Publishers WeeklyBut Clay’s own demons emerge once he meets a gorgeous young actress determined to win a role in his movie. And when his life careens completely out of control, he has no choice but to plumb the darkest recesses of his character and come to terms with his proclivity for betrayal."In many ways, "Imperial Bedrooms" is a return to form for Ellis, after the stylistic departure that was Lunar Park... Here are the short choppy chapters; the flat run-on passages; the authorial ennui and banal recitation of brand names - all of which felt fresh when he premiered them in Less Than Zero and now have been cribbed by two decades worth of Comp Lit majors." - Janelle Brown, San Francisco Chronicle

Bret Easton Ellis’s debut, Less Than Zero, is one of the signal novels of the last thirty years, and he now follows those infamous teenagers into an even more desperate middle age.

Clay, a successful screenwriter, has returned from New York to Los Angeles to help cast his new movie, and he’s soon drifting through a long-familiar circle. Blair, his former girlfriend, is married to Trent, an influential manager who’s still a bisexual philanderer, and their Beverly Hills parties attract various levels of fame, fortune and power. Then there’s Clay’s childhood friend Julian, a recovering addict, and their old dealer, Rip, face-lifted beyond recognition and seemingly even more sinister than in his notorious past.

But Clay’s own demons emerge once he meets a gorgeous young actress determined to win a role in his movie. And when his life careens completely out of control, he has no choice but to plumb the darkest recesses of his character and come to terms with his proclivity for betrayal.

A genuine literary event.

The Barnes & Noble Review

If Less Than Zero was a book that sped by and made no real impression on a reader, its sequel can be absorbed just as quickly. But it shouldn't be. Imperial Bedrooms is a book with pleasurable sentences and tensions; with pulpy twists and shivering scenarios. I suspect it will be an easy novel for detractors of the author to misread. But Ellis is not an easy ironist, and here he is not gratuitous. He asks us a question: What can you do with an artful book about spiritual zombies? Read it and weep.

Bret Easton Ellis's debut, Less Than Zero, is one of the signal novels of the last thirty years, and he now follows those infamous teenagers into an even more desperate middle age. Clay, a successful screenwriter, has returned from New York to Los Angeles to help cast his new movie, and he's soon drifting through a long-familiar circle. Blair, his former girlfriend, is married to Trent, an influential manager who's still a bisexual philanderer, and their Beverly Hills parties attract various levels of fame, fortune and power. Then there's Clay's childhood friend Julian, a recovering addict, and their old dealer, Rip, face-lifted beyond recognition and seemingly even more sinister than in his notorious past. But Clay's own demons emerge once he meets a gorgeous young actress determined to win a role in his movie. And when his life careens completely out of control, he has no choice but to plumb the darkest recesses of his character and come to terms with his proclivity for betrayal. A genuine literary event. From the Hardcover edition EDITORIAL REVIEW: Bret Easton Ellis’s debut, *Less Than Zero,* is one of the signal novels of the last thirty years, and he now follows those infamous teenagers into an even more desperate middle age.Clay, a successful screenwriter, has returned from New York to Los Angeles to help cast his new movie, and he’s soon drifting through a long-familiar circle. Blair, his former girlfriend, is married to Trent, an influential manager who’s still a bisexual philanderer, and their Beverly Hills parties attract various levels of fame, fortune and power. Then there’s Clay’s childhood friend Julian, a recovering addict, and their old dealer, Rip, face-lifted beyond recognition and seemingly even more sinister than in his notorious past.But Clay’s own demons emerge once he meets a gorgeous young actress determined to win a role in his movie. And when his life careens completely out of control, he has no choice but to plumb the darkest recesses of his character and come to terms with his proclivity for betrayal.A genuine literary event. INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • The New York Times bestselling author of American Psycho delivers a riveting, tour-de-force sequel to Less Than Zero, set on the seedy side of Los Angeles. •'A haunting vision of disillusionment, twenty-first-century style'(People). Returning to Los Angeles from New York, Clay, now a successful screenwriter, is casting his new movie. Soon he is running with his old circle of friends through L.A.'s seedy side. His ex-girlfriend, Blair, is married to Trent, a bisexual philanderer and influential manager. Then there's Julian, a recovering addict, and Rip, a former dealer. Then when Clay meets a gorgeous young actress who will stop at nothing to be in his movie, his own dark past begins to shine through, and he has no choice but to dive into the recesses of his character and come to terms with his proclivity for betrayal. Look for Bret Easton Ellis's new novel, The Shards! Clay, A Successful Screenwriter, Has Returned From New York To Los Angeles To Help Cast His New Movie, And He's Soon Drifting Through A Long-familiar Circle That Will Leave Him No Choice But To Plumb The Darkest Recesses Of His Character And Come To Terms With His Proclivity For Betrayal. Bret Easton Ellis. Sequel To: Less Than Zero.