Audio: And the trees stare back by Gigi Griffis

Author Gigi Griffis

Narrated by Rachel Yong

Publication date Nov 4, 2025 by Tantor Media

Running time 9 hrs 20 min

To review/ Horror Mystery Fiction

Do not go into the bog, you will not come back. Vik knows this. She knows the trees move, the trees stare at you, the deity Soovana moves through the bog. But one day she goes to close with her little sister, and then, her sister Anna is gone. Just like so many others from this village.

Horror, mystery, but, see many others will fall into the creepiness of this nearby bog. But I am Finnish, my DNA is coded with centuries of trauma so I was all at once; The Russians did it. I could never fall into the spookiness of moving trees, and spotting a strange being with deer antlers on its head. Nope, Russians. That is what they do and always have done.

And Estonia, little brother, did the Soviets mess you up so much that you wanted to burn witches in 1989? It felt more like 1789.

So for me this was more a mystery, because something comes out of the bog, someone finally returns. How, why? What is this? It has been 5 years after all and she has not aged.

There is also the whole Estonia wanting freedom, getting out from under the Iron Fist of Soviet. Wanting to speak their language, being afraid when seeing soldiers. About friendship and family and how loss changes you.

A good book, not much horror when I went all logical, but that is the hazards of living here. But a good mystery. Like what was actually going on? And would they find out before they got killed?

Good narration. I felt she got the tone right for the book. Lots of emotions going on.

, Soviet Estonia. In sixteen-year-old Vik's village—and the cursed forest that looms beyond—danger is everywhere. Soldiers threaten those who so much as dream of dissent. The villagers' words are sharp with accusations of witchcraft. And deep in the heart of the wood, a lantern-eyed spirit lies in wait to disappear those who wander too far past the trees.

Vik knows because five years ago, she led her little sister Anna over that invisible line—and never saw her again.

The only thing Vik has wished for since then is her sister's safe return. So when Anna stumbles back through the tree line on the anniversary of her disappearance, it's a miracle...Or is it a lie?

As unsettling inconsistencies between this girl and the one who vanished reveal themselves, Vik starts to doubt whether this Anna is her Anna—or something else entirely. Whoever she is, one thing is she was never meant to escape the trees.

And unless Vik can uncover the secrets of the forest, it's going to take her back.