“Sure, 'Les Miserables' can be melodramatic. And seeing the musical instead of reading the novel will save you some time and spare you the long part where Hugo goes on and on about the Parisian sewer system. But I would hate for the novel to lose that.”

American author

Garth Risk Hallberg is an American author known for his debut novel, City on Fire, published by Knopf in 2015. He made his literary debut with that novel, which established him as a novelist to watch. Beyond that, the available record here is limited, so the main point of reference is his first book and his work as an author.