The Element of Surprise in Les Miserables

Victor Hugo makes considerable use of surprise throughout the novel Les Miserables, as a means of intriguing and engaging the reader as well as adding dramatic flair to the story. Although Hugo uses a great deal of foreshadowing, it is often very ambiguous and the true meaning is not understood until later in the story. This allows the surprise to be even greater, because although the reader knows something is afoot, the foreshadowing misleads them so the end result is very different from what the reader had imagined.
The story of Les Miserables switches between many different characters who at first seem entirely unrelated but whose paths inevitably collide. After this pattern is established, the reader is constantly wondering at the connection of one character to another. Hugo makes the most of this by keeping the reader unaware for as long as possible as to the identity of new characters, who often often turn out to be previously-introduced characters who have changed their identity for some reason. The prime example of this is during a scene which united every main character in one strange circumstance. Within the space of a few pages, it is revealed that Marius' neighbours the Jondrettes are actually the Thenardier family, and that they are planning to rob Jean Valjean, who took Cosette away from their cruel home many years before. However, Marius overhears this plan and, in hopes of protecting his love Cosette, whom Jean Valjean has since adopted, alerts the police. By some twist of fate, the policeman whom he speaks with is Inspector Javert, who has been searching for Jean Valjean since his escape from prison. These events are revealed one after another and remain unexplained, which leaves the reader wondering.
Hugo's drawn-out style of writing is very conducive to surprises, and he witholds the identity of the policeman until the last sentence of the chapter, when he says to Marius, "By the way, if you need me between now and then, come or send here. You will ask for Inspector Javert" (Hugo, 764). This prolonged build-up of curiousity and suspicious makes the surprise even greater.
This consecutive unveiling of characters also serves another purpose: to mask to complete improbability of all these characters meeting in such a way. The realisticness of these events is extremely low, but readers do not notice this at the time because they are so flabbergasted by each new development.
The element of surprise plays an important part in Les Miserables, both to keep the reader interested in a sometimes stagnant plot and disguise the implausibility of the events.