The Whisper Man’s Norman and Dominic plot explained, because honestly what was going on?

*Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Whisper Man*

Norman Collins (Hamish Linklater) is a prime suspect in The Whisper Man, and he’s linked to a man named Dominic Barnett. If you were confused about their plot, you’re not alone – here’s what went down and the big changes that were made to the book. 

Directed by James Ashcroft, the Netflix film follows author Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott) and his young son Jake (Acston Luca Porto), who move to the town of Garretton following the death of Tom’s wife and Jake’s mum Rebecca. 

As we quickly learn, Garretton Detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) is investigating the death of a young boy and the abduction of another in crimes that are eerily reminiscent of the now-incarcerated serial killer known as the Whisper Man. 

When Jake goes missing, Tom is sucked into the case, alongside his estranged father and former detective, Peter Willis (Robert De Niro), who caught the original killer, Frank Carter (Michael Keaton). 

While looking for people who may have had contact with Frank in prison, Pete identifies Norman Collins, who collects true crime memorabilia. Even though he’s suspicious to say the least, he has watertight alibis for the abductions. 

But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been helping. Later on, the police get a chance to interview Norman, where it’s revealed that he had been communicating with Frank via a fellow inmate, Victor Tyler (Robert Clohessy) – and he even managed to pass on a burner phone to him. 

So where does Dominic Barnett come into it? Well, Tom finds out early on in the investigation that he was the previous tenant at his and Jake’s house, and he did time behind bars for assaulting a police officer – at the same prison as Frank. 

Pete overhears the name when Tom tells Amanda, and instantly recognises him as a runner for a gang back when he was on the job. Dominic’s been missing for the past six months, presumably because he’s the new killer, right? 

Well, no, because after tracking Norman down, Tom realises he was the same guy who had been rifling through his basement before Jake’s disappearance. Together with Pete, they go to inspect the basement to see what he was looking for. 

Lo and behold, they discover the remains of Tony Smith, the Whisper Man’s fifth victim, as well as the body of Dominic. We quickly find out that while Frank murdered Tony, Norman was the one who killed Dominic. 

But why did Norman kill Dominic?

Norman basically clears it up when Amanda and Peter go to arrest him, but don’t fret – his motive has left a fair few viewers confused. 

The reason Norman had been communicating with Frank in prison is because of his twisted obsession with true crime memorabilia. He had paid Frank for access to Tony Smith and to grab something for his collection. 

Frank pointed him to Dominic, as they were friends (aka accomplices) back in the day, and Dominic took Norman to Tony’s remains in the basement of the home. But Dominic riled Norman up and made him feel “small”. 

As Norman tells the detectives, “In the basement, he made me feel very small, saying that I was a tourist and a peeping tom. That I could jerk off but never f**k.” In other words, he taunted him for being obsessed with murder but unable to commit it. 

Clearly, it hit Norman’s ego, and so he hit Dominic – so hard that it killed him. Presumably Norman buried him right near Tony’s remains as it would be easier to pin the crime – if it had been discovered earlier – on Frank. 

Even so, this detail has sparked confusion. As one Redditor wrote, “I’m a little confused why he went to the house, killed Barnett, stuffed him in the wall and then went back when the house was occupied to poke around the basement… months or years later? 

“I’m also confused how Barnett and the child psychologist Dr. Sharmatz were both dead and missing for weeks and no one noticed?”

Another replied, “I do wonder though how it came to that as Barnett and Frank seem so different. How the hell did they end up being accomplices?” 

They added, “I think Barnett not being reported missing could be explained by him having just gotten out of jail and his relative landlady seemed also rather upset with him that he just disappeared after he got out…. But the psychiatrist absolutely should have been reported missing.”

Thankfully, we can find some of these answers in Alex North’s 2019 The Whisper Man book.

The reason Norman killed Dominic in The Whisper Man book is even darker

Firstly, in the book, Tom comes across a news report on Dominic Barnett’s death. In the movie he’s found alongside Tony’s remains, but in the novel, he’s discovered separately in some woodland. 

Although the report says police are treating the case as murder, Tom looks through later articles, discovering “the implication appeared to be that he’d been involved with drugs in some way, and that this was presumed to be the motive for his murder.”

When the police eventually connect Norman to the death of Dominic, they similarly believe he may be involved in the child abductions. Norman eventually confesses to murdering Dominic, but he does so after being taken into police custody and with a lawyer present. 

Much like in the Netflix film, he is true crime obsessed and had been in contact over the remains of Tony. “I learned long ago that my hobby was considered niche by most, and abhorrent by a few,” he says. 

“But there are others who share it. And I have proved trustworthy over the years, which has allowed me access to more important pieces than others.”

After paying to see Tony’s body, Norman says he simply spent time with him, describing it as an almost godly experience – but he wasn’t disrespectful, “not like some of the others”.

This is where the book goes into more context about his motive. Not only is it different from the movie, but what happens to drive him to murder is a lot darker. 

Norman explains that he had visited Tony’s remains several times over the years, but things started to deteriorate when Dominic took over and began treating the site more like a twisted experience. 

When Amanda asks if that’s why he killed him, Norman replies, “To protect the exhibit! And Barnett wouldn’t grant me access any more – not after the last time. Tony needed to be kept safe.”

He goes on to explain that his previous visits had always been solitary, saying, “I was paying my respects, and I wanted to be on my own with Tony.” But after Dominic took over, he began allowing other true crime obsessives to pay for access too – and they weren’t all there for the same reason as Norman.

“The last night I went, there were five or six other people there,” Norman says. “All people fascinated by the case. A mixture of types – you’d be surprised, honestly – and I got the impression that some of them had travelled a great distance.”

Things then get seriously dark from here. Dominic had put a mattress in the room alongside a red light bulb, with Norman realising that some of the visitors were using the place to have sex.

“Not with the body – with each other,” he clarifies. “But that was bad enough. I couldn’t be part of something like that.”

Norman says that when he had visited Tony before, “it was like being in a church. It was quiet, beautiful. I felt the presence of God.” But after seeing what Dominic had turned it into, he describes the experience very differently: “It was like standing in hell.”

So while Norman still murders Dominic in both versions of The Whisper Man, the book gives far more context to why he does it. Rather than Dominic simply bruising his ego by mocking him, Norman has developed a deeply warped sense of ownership over Tony’s remains.

He believes he is somehow respecting Tony while the others are exploiting him, and eventually convinces himself that murdering Dominic is necessary to “protect” the very murder victim he has been secretly paying to visit.

Norman’s fate is different in the Netflix movie

There’s another big book change when it comes to Norman’s fate. In The Whisper Man movie, Amanda and Pete press Norman for more details about who’s abducted Jake at his home.  

Knowing that he connected someone to Frank, Norman gives an elusive answer: “I was the only one who ever saw it. In the eyes.” He then stabs himself in the neck and dies right there, leaving the police to figure out the culprit’s identity. 

But Norman doesn’t kill himself in the book. Instead, he remains in police custody and his confession actually helps move the investigation forward.

After admitting to Dominic’s murder, Norman insists he had nothing to do with the missing children. He instead tells Pete and Amanda about the wider network of true crime obsessives surrounding the case.

This gives the detectives another avenue to investigate. As Amanda considers after speaking with Norman, “It wasn’t a stretch to believe that one of them – drawn ever onwards by Frank Carter’s whispers – had walked further down that path than the others. 

“The best of these people were evil sycophants, but one of them was something worse. A student.”

This is essentially where Norman’s story ends in the book. After confessing to killing Dominic and giving the police the information they need, he remains in custody and largely drops out of the story.

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Featured image credit: Netflix