Where He Left Me by Nicole Baart
Reviewed by Anne Smith-Nochasak
Where He left Me combines suspense, vivid description of characters and setting, and sensitivity to human nature in a memorable story.
Chapter one opens with Sadie preparing a homecoming meal for her husband in their isolated mountain home to welcome him home from a conference. The plot unfolds with her efforts to cope with an assortment of challenges—including strangers in the greenhouse, flooding, a blizzard, unexpected medical needs, and the nearby community’s lack of concern regarding her husband’s absence. The backstory is revealed in well-paced flashbacks that trace the relationship between Sadie and Felix. These shed light on the present and augment the current action well. The momentum of the narrative is maintained.
“This is not a simple mystery thriller with a linear plot and adrenaline spikes; it is layered and complicated, winding between past and present, revealing depths of character.”
Sadie Sheridan, a professor of creative writing, encounters astronomy professor Felix Graham during her first semester at the small college where they both teach. His passion for the wonders of creation, his intensity, and his sensitivity to her struggles immediately appeal to her. Their connection is, in part, rooted in their difficult childhoods. Since the death of her brother and her father in a car accident when she was four, Sadie has experienced a lack of interest, at times resentment, from her mother and has never felt wanted or whole. Felix’s father neglected his family, never providing a stable home for Felix, his sister Gabriella, and his mother, instead pursuing personal obsessions and disappearing for extended periods of time. As the bond between Sadie and Felix deepens, she accepts that they will probably not have children at their ages and thus will not bring the damage of their pasts forward.
The relationship deepens to marriage, soon followed by a sabbatical, in which they decide to move into Felix’s childhood home deep in the mountains, reclaiming the abandoned property from the tangled undergrowth absorbing it. A change in Felix gradually surfaces: he is at times withdrawn, secret conversations are made, certain rooms are closed off, and Sadie’s intense soulmate is less attentive to her. They do not lie carefree under the stars anymore while Felix shares his boundless knowledge and enthusiasm for the marvels of the night sky.
There are subtle indications that he is hiding something.
Neither actually likes living at the Graham family homestead. The crowding of the forest and the animal cries in the night close in around Sadie while Felix stubbornly hacks brush with determination, not joy. When he leaves for a conference, Sadie hopes for a change, a reclamation of the person she fell in love with.
The change that happens is that he does not return from the conference. And on that night when he is due to return, Sadie discovers, on the trail cam, two shadowy figures lurking near the greenhouse. The tension builds, and even when we learn who these characters are, this tension does not dissipate but follows a new twist. The novel plays out in an isolated mountain homestead during extreme weather, with characters of tormented pasts striving to survive, not only the weather, but the past and present that haunt them. And, as the hours slip into days, Felix does not return.
A story of people fighting a blizzard is not new, but the nuances of the plot grip the reader, as when Sadie and her companion, while attempting to find a trail off the mountain, discover a clearing with sets of antlers nailed to the trees all around them. The description is vivid, and we panic with them as they attempt to flee whatever dark person or force created this horror. The tension builds, the plot rushes forward, and we grip the book, eager for a conclusion that is ever just out of reach.
The author’s descriptive strengths in general are noteworthy. Sadie’s rising sense of urgency as the hours slip by is expressed: “I can feel the clock ticking, a metronome keeping time beneath my skin.” (264) And we receive this touching impression of Felix: “When he lifts her into his arms, Felix is the perfect mix of tough and tender, mess and miracle . . .” (308) As well, the shack hidden in the far reaches of the mountains is exactly as a shack of that type should be; there is no rusticity or romance, just the rawness of unmatched walls, a tarp dragged over part of the roof—a shack scrounged from scraps by desperate people.
I did find the tense shifts in the first chapter confusing at first, but once I recognized the pattern, this was no longer an issue. In the final section, I found the pace a little slow as emotions surfaced, discussions were held, and healing began. In reflection, however, I do not see this as a weakness—after the tension and volatility of the rising action and the clash of the climax, the denouement is of necessity gentler, slower, a time for characters and reader to recover from the action.
This is not a simple mystery thriller with a linear plot and adrenaline spikes; it is layered and complicated, winding between past and present, revealing depths of character. Especially noteworthy is the character of Henry, a young man who is mountain-raised in isolation, confined, and terrorized by his father. She reveals Henry’s rage, his defiance, his sullenness—but also his vulnerability. At all times, protecting his younger brother, a sweet and loving child, defines his actions. Both brothers will have a significant role in the evolution of Sadie—and in learning why Felix has not come home.
Where He Left Me delivers suspense, dramatic tension, and plot twists while delving into the deepest hopes and failings of people like us. Nicole Baart’s success in this novel lies in her ability to reflect on our most profound aspirations while weaving these into a story that grips us from beginning to end.
About the Author
Nicole Baart is the author of several novels, including Where He Left Me and Everything We Didn’t Say. The cofounder of a nonprofit and mother of five, she lives in Iowa with her family. Learn more at NicoleBaart.com.
About the Reviewer
Anne M. Smith-Nochasak grew up in rural western Nova Scotia, where she currently teaches part-time after years in northern communities. She has self-published four novels with Friesen Press: A Canoer of Shorelines (2021), The Ice Widow (2022), and two books in the Taggak Journey trilogy: River Faces North (2024) and River Becomes Shadow (2025).
A member of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, Anne enjoys incorporating local settings into her writing. In her free time, she likes reading, kayaking, gardening, renovating, and exploring the woods with her golden dog, Shay, while her cat, Kit Marlowe, oversees the house. Anne can be contacted through her website. https://www.acanoerofshorelines.com/
Book Details
Publisher : Atria Books
Publication date : Nov. 4 2025
Language : English
Print length : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 1668066173
ISBN-13 : 978-1668066171
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