Winner of the Gival Press Novel Award, Lowell Mick White's That Demon Life is a comic tale of lust and laziness, of crime and competenceand incompetence. It's the story of Linda Smallwood, a sometimes depressed, always difficult, Austin criminal defense lawyer, who finds that her life mirrors what the Rolling Stones call "that demon life." In the course of a grueling week, Linda encounters a parade of slackers, thugs, and eccentricshookers, cab drivers, and political fixers of various stripesa world with echoes of A Confederacy of Dunces. She loses her job, falls back into a romance with her presently married ex-fianc, and persuades her best friend to seduce and blackmail the judge she holds responsible for her misfortunes. Lindas absurd, dislocated, and outlandish life reflects the rhythms and the culture of the city whose slogan is Keep Austin Weird. Indeed, she does. Ultimately, when Linda confronts her nemesis, whom she then attempts to rescue, she discovers that the joys of love and revenge are not all theyre alleged to be. As the Stones famously say, Its just that demon life has got you in its sway.
