Payne is the Bret Easton Ellis of middle America
Same minimalistic, nihilistic vibe. Just substitute rich valley kids (or rich liberal arts school kids or rich stock brokers) with middle class teachers or insurance execs.
And this isn't an insult, Ellis does a pretty good job of exposing the lack of depth and meaningless-ness (i know, not a word) of the rich and urban elite and Payne does an amazing job exposing that faux-niceness and community of middle america.