Tom Kealey might be my favorite short story writer and this astonishing collection is long overdue.

—Stephen Elliott, author of The Adderall Diaries

I’ve never gotten such a sense of place from a collection of stories that so spans the nation. Kealey’s characters are survivors, orphans spiritual and legal, living in an America where real joy and real struggle share an unmended fence with the realm of myth. This is a book of transit and transition, drives and conversations, wilderness and outskirts, all of it rendered with gorgeous humanity—and with such adroitness the sudden power of each conclusion takes the breath right out of me.

—Scott Hutchins, author of A Working Theory of Love

Needy is not quite the right description for the characters in Kealey's strong story collection. . . . While they are living on the edge, their powerful sense of self and duty belies their lack of funds, though nothing masks their hardscrabble life. . . . Kealey creates both characters and landscapes with a sure hand, making for a memorable collection

—Danise Hoover, Booklist

Thieves I’ve Known is a collection of quietly remarkable stories, timeless in their ability to reveal the extraordinary in the most seemingly ordinary of lives. Whether writing about grocery store baggers or altar boys, circus workers or amateur boxers, Tom Kealey transports us to the innermost worlds of unforgettable men and women, thanks to his keen understanding of character, his exquisite rendering of place, and his mesmerizing sentences. Thieves I’ve Known is one of the most moving, most beautifully written books I’ve read in years.

—Lysley Tenorio, author of Monstress

A powerful collection, mythic in feel, Thieves I've Known is a book I've long anticipated from a writer I've long admired. I'm not alone. The Rumpus founder Stephen Elliott considers Kealey possibly his 'favorite short story writer.'

—Scott Hutchins, The Rumpus