Perhaps because Exley began his tripartite "fictional Memoir" relatively late in life, all three volumes are retrospective and focus on recurrent concerns. His novels differ most notably in that each revolves around specific foils, "historical" or "Fictional" characters set up in contradistinction to the narrator. Frequently — as with the description of O'Twoomey — Exley's use of hyperbole stops just short of caricature.

Thus, he tests readers' "willing suspension of disbelief" at every turn, challenging his audience to empathize with marginally unbelievable characters. His diction is courtly yet strewn with epithets, bawdy and wry. Stanley Reynolds says reading Exley's prose is very much like being seduced by a genius barfly.

Last Notes from Home relies on the dramatic monologue convention of apostrophe, wherein the narrator addresses a silent third party and the reader overhears. Exley directs his confessions and recollections to two parties in this novel: Matt Dillion...