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.