A 12-year-old boy missing a left hand, Ren (Reginald Edward Nab) begins the novel as an orphan and ends it with a biological father. Ren has "no memory of a beginning" (4), only being at Saint Anthony's, the orphanage someone left him at as an infant. To "make up for" (15) being passed over by so many potential adopters because of his amputation, Ren steals small things he can hide easily, including "socks and shoelaces[…]buttons, keys, and crucifixes" (15). Ren is a quiet boy, preferring to spend time reading and daydreaming. After being adopted by Benjamin Nab, a career thief whom Ren later learns is his biological father, Ren leaves behind his quiet, impoverished life at the orphanage for an adventurous, though equally impoverished, life of crime on the road. Benjamin refers to Ren as "already one of us" (75), alluding to both the fact of Ren's penchant for theft and his biological relationship to Benjamin.

After settling into the strange new reality of his life with Benjamin and Tom, Ren becomes a valuable resource for them. His amputation garners sympathy from people who give him money and Ren serves as a lookout when Benjamin and Tom do their graverobbing work.