num_pages: 256
description: Twenty-five years on from Less Than Zero we pick up again with Clay. In 1985 Bret Easton Ellis shocked stunned and disturbed with Less Than Zero his 'extraordinarily accomplished first novel' (New Yorker) successfully chronicling the frightening consequences of unmitigated hedonism within the ranks of the ethically bereft youth of 80s Los Angeles. Now twenty-five years later Ellis returns to those same characters: to Clay and the band of infamous teenagers whose lives weave sporadically through his. But now some years on they face an even greater period of disaffection: their own middle age. Clay seems to have moved on - he's become a successful screenwriter - but when he returns from New York to Los Angeles to help cast his new movie he's soon drifting through a long-familiar circle. Blair his former girlfriend is now married to Trent and their Beverly Hills parties attract excessive levels of fame and fortune though for all that Trent is a powerful manager his baser instincts remain: he's still a bisexual philanderer. Then there's Clay's childhood friend Julian - who's now a recovering addict - and their old dealer Rip - face-lifted beyond recognition and seemingly even more sinister than he was in his notorious past. Clay too struggles with his own demons after a meeting with a gorgeous actress determined to win a role in his movie. And with his life careening out of control he's forced to come to terms with the deepest recesses of his character - and with his seemingly endless proclivity for betrayal.
language: English
title: Imperial Bedrooms
publisher: Picador