Don't bother. While I didn't find the characters from Less than Zero likable, I did find Ellis' writing to be lyrical - especially the sequences with Clay in the desert when he visited his grandparents. And Less Than Zero had a great overall theme that worked for the superficial, young characters. Blair said in the beginning of that novel that people in LA are afraid to merge, referring specifically to driving on the freeway; Clay generalizes that idea to all their shallow relationships. Imperial Bedrooms, unfortunately, seems to pick up exactly where Less than Zero left off. All the main characters are STILL lost, vacuous, indulging in addictive even debasing behaviors, and totally unlikable. None of the characters evolved. This novel features several quite gruesome murders and I never figured out how they were connected or why they were necessary to the story. To have shallow and self indulgent characters was a trend in the early 1980's. To present the same flat characters after 20 yrs, with no self-growth and no redeeming qualities whatsoever, just seems pathetic and pointless.

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