The Thief of THAT

You are browsing the new hardcover fiction section when you stop, surprised at what you see…

Dalton Bryce is the author of That, widely acknowledged as the best-selling and most epic horror novel of all time.

Ravel Averof is the author of nothing.

That’s about to change.

Ravel Averof has for years been trying to write a novel. He hopes that once he is a published author he will have the courage to confront his estranged father, himself a famous novelist. One day while working at his mind-numbing office job Ravel receives a call from Laney Greer, a young woman he has not seen in many years. Laney works for Chronotrex, and as Ravel soon discovers, this mysterious company is developing a time machine, which Ravel realizes can change his life. Under pressure from the recent literary successes of his father, his father-in-law, and his rival contemporary, Ravel will go back in time to erase all memory of a mega bestselling novel from the 1990s and make it his own. Ravel’s journey will take him to the greatest heights of success and the lowest depths of humility. Along the way he will learn not only the truth about his mother and father’s failed marriage but also the truth about his own nature.

A science fiction odyssey, a satirical take on the obsessive desire for literary success, a love letter to books and the pleasure of reading, The Thief of THAT is all of this and more: a work of fierce imagination, humor and heart.

Praise for The Thief of THAT

In David Ewald’s riveting science fiction caper The Thief of That, an anxiety-ridden aspiring novelist is given the chance to travel backward in time.

At thirty, underemployed Ravel worries that the opportunities he deserved all passed him by. His college girlfriend married a successful novelist, his estranged father is up for a prestigious literary award, and his wife is finishing her dissertation; even his father-in-law, a police officer, secured a literary agent before him. Meanwhile, Ravel toils in a cubicle, never managing to get past the first chapter of his novel-in-the-works. He worries that he’ll die as unrecognized as his poet mother, if with fewer publications to his name. When he reconnects with a former student via a million-dollar order, though, new vistas open up: if he can “tesser well,” he may be able to rewrite his tale.

Ravel’s plot involves defying the established rules of time travel to claim a famed novelist’s beloved tome as his own. The creative means by which he’ll accomplish this are shadowed as he pounds away at his keyboard for months, reshaping the inspired work. What remains consistent is his sense of indignation that he has not yet attained the success he is sure he deserves. This propels him past his doubts about plagiarism and sustains him through problematic encounters with family members, bookstore patrons, disillusioned ex-writers, and former loves; his sanity is subsumed by his overwhelming thirst for “some small degree of immortality.” His actions are egregious and fascinating, leading to uproarious, absurdist twists. Still, even at his least sympathetic, Ravel manages to be an endearing antihero; when asked to answer for his missteps, he mopes and notes “at least the puppy loved him.”

Salvation and self-acceptance are inseparable for a disappointed novelist in the droll speculative novel The Thief of That.

— Michelle Anne Schingler, Foreword Reviews

Clever, entertaining…The plot is deliciously twisty, fast-paced and entirely unpredictable, centering on a man’s burning desire to be greater than he is—no matter the cost. Ewald is a strong writer and storyteller, equally adept at description, action, and dialogue, and the prose flows smoothly while engaging readers in Ravel’s journey. The novel has a satirical flair that will delight literary fans, and Ewald successfully delivers a flawed main character who is relatable, complex, and, through a series of elaborate events, comes to know himself on a deeper level by the book’s end. From the first introduction to Ravel, fans will feel intimately connected, aware of the demons that plague him and compassionate toward his somewhat misguided attempts to overcome them.

– The BookLife Prize (Publisher’s Weekly)

“Forgotten. That one word was what he feared most, feared more than death, for what did it matter if he died as long as he was remembered?”

“The Thief of That” introduces Ravel Averof, the son of a famous author who has been trying to finish his own story for years.

Estranged from his father, in a rut at his mindless job, and concerned about the lack of passion in his marriage, Ravel believes his choices led him to this point. When an ex-student, Laney Greer, reaches out to purchase an expensive piece of equipment. Ravel soon discovers that Laney works for a company called Chronotrex and that she’s in the business of building time machines.

Given the opportunity to travel back in time, Ravel decides he’s going to do something about his predicament. He plans on erasing all signs of a bestselling horror, That, in order to steal it from his favorite author and make it his own.

Ravel initially succeeds in his mission, but soon realizes the consequences of his actions. Will he be able to fix all that he’s destroyed or will he be forced to live with the results of his misguided actions?

Overall, I enjoyed this tale. It is clear from early in the book that the author loves writing and has dived into this within the pages. The story is told through the POV of Ravel- who is very relatable, but flawed. He has a tendency to blame others for his choices and he doesn’t quite get himself together throughout his life. He’s pressured from his high achieving father, ambitious wife, and shadowed by his peers. He’s so consumed by his perceived challenges that he can’t see the positives surrounding him. The pacing of the story is even throughout. The story is pushed forward with conflicts and stories from Ravel’s past- he has a complex relationship with his absentee father which is revealed throughout the pages. The correlations to Stephen King and his works were a lot of fun. I was just in Bangor, ME where my family and I went on a Stephen King tour plus there’s the new HBO series Welcome to Derry… so this tie in was very timely. The ending wraps everything up nicely instilling a feeling of completeness and content. Of course, time travel stories could always be open to a sequel…or a prequel.

— Heather L. Barksdale, Heather’s Bookshelf