If you’re in the mood to be scared this weekend, you might consider watching The Whisper Man on Netflix, a new crime thriller starring Adam Scott and Robert De Niro.

Directed by James Ashcroft, with a script written by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer, The Whisper Man is based on Alex North’s 2019 bestselling novel of the same name. Adam Scott stars as Tom Kennedy, a crime novelist whose detective skills are put to the test when his son, Jake (Acston Luca Porto), is abducted. When details from the crime echo that of a serial killer who was locked up by Tom’s estranged father—a retired cop played by Robert De Niro—father and son must put aside their grievances to work together.

The Whisper Man movie condenses a roughly 400-page-long book into an under-two-hour movie, which means the plot of this mystery moves very fast. If you aren’t paying attention, you might miss details, and find yourself confused by the time you finish the film.

Never fear, because Decider is here to help. Read on for a breakdown of The Whisper Man movie plot summary and The Whisper Man movie ending explained, including who the photo of the girl in the blue sweater is.

The Whisper Man movie plot summary:

The movie opens with police searching for a missing child named Neil Spencer, led by Detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan). The cops don’t find Neil Spencer, but they do the decomposing body of a different child, with a bag over the head. Hmm!

Meanwhile, a crime novelist named Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott) and his elementary-aged son Jake (Acston Luca Porto) move into a new house, following the death of Tom’s cancer-ridden wife. Tom is worried about his son, who is coping with his mom’s recent death by insisting that his imaginary friend, the girl in the blue sweater, is real. The audience sees the girl in many of the shots with Jake, but don’t hear her speak. Jake also keeps a “Packet of Special Things,” where he keeps photos of his mom.

Detective Amanda pays a visit to the retired Detective Inspector Pete Willis (Robert De Niro). She thinks the body she found, and the missing boy Neil, might be connected to the kidnapper and child serial killer known as Frank Carter, whom Pete chased down and put in prison years ago. Frank Carter, aka “The Whisper Man,” was known for whispering to troubled kids, convincing them to come with him, and then releasing tapes of him whisper-interviewing the kids to the cops. Eventually, Frank Carter would kill his victims by covering their heads and strangling them to death.

Even though Carter is in prison, Amanda saw a note in the case file that Pete theorized he might have had an accomplice. However, Pete doesn’t want anything to do with the case, and dismisses the similarities as a coincidence. But it doesn’t seem like a coincidence when the local TV station receives a “Whisper Man” interview tape with the missing kid, Neil, revealing he was very unhappy living with his grandmother and felt abandoned by his parents. The Whisper Man tells Neil that he will love him, instead. Yikes!

Meanwhile, Jake is not adjusting well to his new school and his new life. One night, Tom catches Jake talking to someone through the mail slot of their front door. A gloved hand reaches through the slot. Tom immediately pulls Jake back, and runs outside to find the intruder. After checking the basement, he finds a strange man, who pushes Tom down and flees. Tom reports the incident to the police, who dismiss it as a squatter who didn’t realize the house was now occupied, or perhaps came back to collect his stuff.

Tom installs security cameras in the house. One night, after drinking, he sees Jake on the camera talking to his imaginary friend. Tom confronts Jake. Jake says his friend, the girl in the blue sweater, is scared of the house because of “the boy in the floor.” Angry, Tom tells him to grow up and stop playing this imaginary game. Jake, upset, cries that his dad never believes him. Later that night, Tom finds Jake’s room empty, with the window wide open. He’s gone.

Tom speaks to Detective Amanda, who fills him in on the other missing child case, and the possible connection to Frank Carter. It’s revealed that Detective Pete, the guy who locked up Frank Carter, is Tom’s estranged father. Tom goes to his dad and begs him to help with case to find his missing grandson. Though reluctant, Pete eventually agrees.

Pete and Amanda pay a visit to Frank Carter in prison, who is played by Michael Keaton. Frank seems to know a lot about Pete’s life, and also implies he does know who is doing the copycat killings. He tells the detectives that if they bring him his wife and son, who are currently in witness protection, that he will talk. But he doesn’t want to reconnect with his family out of love—he’s furious with them for turning him in, and wants to kill them. He says if he can get five minutes alone with his wife and son, he will tell them everything they want to know. Because he only needs five minutes to kill them. Frank also taunts Pete about Tony Smith, another child victim whose body was never found.

Obviously, the cops are not going to deliver Frank Carter’s wife and son to him so he can kill them. But Pete does have a new lead: a man named Norman (Hamish Linklater) who visited Frank Carter in prison multiple times. Amanda pays Norman a visit and discovers he is a big fan of serial killers, murders, and grizzly true crime cases. He collects memorabilia from crime scenes, by buying them on eBay. He’s a weirdo for sure, but he has a solid alibi for being out of town when Neil and Jake were kidnapped. But Amanda thinks he knows more than he’s letting on.

Soon after, Jake’s “Whisper Man” tape is released, confirming he was kidnapped by the same person as Neil. Tom realizes that maybe the man who broke into his house, in the basement, was looking for something that might be connected to the case. He pokes around his basement and finds the decomposed remains of a child. It’s Tony Smith, Carter’s missing victim. When the police come, they discover another body of an adult in the basement. This turns out to be a man named Dominic Barnett, an ex-convict who used to live in Tom’s new house.

Amanda suspects Norman killed Dominic with one of the murder weapons he collects in his house. She confronts Norman, and he confesses, yes, he did kill Dominic Barnett, but still insists he did not kidnap or murder any children. Why did he kill Dominic? Because he wanted to obtain more collectibles from the Frank Carter case. Norman paid a visit to Frank, and paid him for information. Frank told Norman to check out Dominic Barnett’s house, where the body of Tony Smith was stashed. As it turns out, Dominic Barnett was Frank Carter’s accomplice, the one that Pete suspected existed, but never had proof.

When Norman went to Dominic, Dominic mocked Norman for being a “tourist” and “Peeping Tom” of murder cases. Enraged, Norman killed Dominic, and hid Dominic body in the basement of Dominic’s house (which would later become Tom’s house). Norman also reveals that he paid Frank Carter not with money, but with information about someone. “I was the only who saw it, in the eyes,” Norman says.

Before the detectives can press Norman about what this means, or about where Jake Kennedy is, Norman suddenly stabs himself in the throat and dies. From the “in the eyes” comment, Pete and Amanda deduce that Norman reconnected Frank to his son, Frank Jr., and that Frank Jr. is the one who has been doing the copycat killings, egged on by his father, whom he mythologizes. Now they just need to find Frank Jr.

The Whisper Man movie ending explained:

The police decide to canvas everyone in the neighborhood looking for Frank Jr. Amanda happens to knock on the door of a man (played by Owen Teague) who the audience already knows is, in fact, the man who kidnapped Jake, aka Frank Jr. The man introduces himself as a teaching assistant at Jake’s school, which is enough reason for Amanda to follow him inside his house for further questioning. Little does she know, this is the very same house where Jake is being held.

Meanwhile, Pete pays another visit to Frank Carter Sr. in prison, and makes him a deal: If Frank tells him where is son is hiding Jake Kennedy, Pete will make sure that Frank Jr. ends up in the same prison as his father, and will grant him the desired “five minutes.” It turns out Frank Sr. really wanted to kill his own son, but made do with killing other kids, instead. But he still really really really wants to murder Frank Jr.!

Pete gets the info on Frank Jr., and texts it to Amanda. Amanda already suspects the guy she is questioning, but now has confirmation this is Frank Jr. Frank Jr. knows that she knows. A heated fight and pursuit ensues. Amanda is left shot and injured. Frank Jr. manages to get away with Jake Kennedy in his car.

Frank Jr. throws the cops of the trail with bad intel, but luckily, thanks to his conversation with Frank Sr., Pete knows where Frank Jr. is taking Jake: the basement of his own house, aka the same place Frank Sr. stashed Tony Smith.

Pete and Tom confront Frank Jr. in the basement. Tom finds Jake, tied up but still alive, in the secret hatch where Tony Smith’s body was. In the struggle that follows, taking place all over the house, Frank Jr. kills Pete. Luckily, Frank Jr. also steps onto a weak spot on the attic floorboard, and falls. Phew, it’s over!

RIP Robert De Niro, and also RIP to Frank Jr. Even though the fall didn’t kill him, he is delivered to Frank Sr. to prison for “five minute alone.” Frank Sr. strangles his son to death, just like he always wanted to do. Yay?

Who is the girl in the blue sweater in The Whisper Man?

The girl in the blue sweater, aka Jake’s imaginary friend, is none other than Jake’s mom as a little girl.

Some viewers will likely have guessed this already, but the movie confirms this in the final scene, when Tom is looking through old photos of his dead wife. He comes across a photo of his wife as a little girl, wearing a blue sweater. Gasp!

So… can Jake see his mother’s ghost? Or did he just know about that picture of his mom from his Packet of Special Things, and therefore used it as inspiration when picturing his imaginary friend?

Well, according to The Whisper Man director James Ashcroft, who spoke to Decider for a recent interview, the girl in the blue sweater really is the ghost of Jake’s mom.

“I definitely view the end revelation as the presence and the spirit of [Jake’s] mother has been there the whole time, influencing and guiding events toward this moment of healing—for all of them, not just her son,” Ashcroft told Decider.

He added that before that last “revelation” with the photograph, it was meant to be ambiguous whether the girl was a supernatural ghost, or all in Jake’s head.

“We were very conscious of, whenever we employ the use of the imaginary friend,” Ashcroft said. “The question is, ‘Is this a supernatural, other being, or is this a manifestation of psychosis for the young boy?’ We were really trying to walk that line—the tension of that question—so that it could always be a question for the audience. The revelation at the end, we were so passionate about, because it’s about healing. That’s very heartfelt. It’s a male-driven film, the themes being father and son. So we love that this presence of the mother was there so much in the background, in the foreground, moving through the film.”

Given that Jake’s imaginary friend knew about “the boy in the floor,” who turned out to be Tony Smith, I guess it makes sense that she really is a real ghost, of Jake’s mom. How else could she know that?

The implication here is fascinating to me. Can Jake talk to dead people, Sixth Sense-style? Or is it just his mom’s ghost that he can communicate with? Now I want to see a movie about that!