 Following her positive comments , however , Battersby concludes negatively . The book is a " bleak performance ... a tired study of the vacuous " with the feeling of an improvised screenplay being performed by an uncommitted cast . She sums that Ellis ' novel " consists of too many doors being left slightly ajar , and not enough rooms , or opportunities , being fully explored . " Some critics have questioned the book 's relevance to a contemporary audience . Dallas News poses the question , whether Imperial Bedrooms is " a story anyone is interested in anymore " , because Ellis ' " blunt , spare , journal @-@ entry prose " is no longer , in 2010 , " the backstage pass " it once was to the lives of " LA 's rich and famous " . Furthermore , Tom Maurstrad argues that since the 1980s , that decade has become a " go @-@ to bargain bin for retro @-@ trends and ready @-@ made nostalgia , easy to package into fashion lines and TV shows " . The review bemoans that the novel 's theme , the dark side of Hollywood , is no longer a culture @-@ shocking revelation , and that Ellis fails to capitalize on the narratorial conceit which it opens with . Maurstrad does highlight positive aspects , however . Ellis wisely " appropriates the unblinking brutality [ of ] ... American Psycho , to add some dramatic heft to this anorexic update " , making the sequel a " celebrity snuff film " to the earlier " backstage pass " . The Wall Street Journal damned the novel as " a dull , stricken , under @-@ medicated nonstory that goes nowhere . " The Boston Globe reviewer opined that " Ellis is aiming for noir , for the territory of James Ellroy and Raymond Chandler , but ends up with an XXX @-@ rated episode of Melrose Place . " 
