Netflix’s latest streaming thriller is director James Ashcroft’s “The Whisper Man”, a stuffed-to-the-gills adaptation of Alex North’s 2019 best-selling novel of the same name. There’s a little bit of everything in “The Whisper Man”. It can be considered a crime thriller, a police procedural, a family drama, and there may even be a hint of the supernatural depending on how you read certain things. Unfortunately it’s all threaded together by a derivative story that borrows more than it offers.

In the once quiet town of Garretton, New Jersey, police officers led by Detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) are on the lookout for a missing boy named Neil Spencer. During their search they discover the body of another child, whose body is bound similar to other recent victims. With a potential serial killer on the loose, Amanda seeks the help of a retired detective named Pete Willis (Robert De Niro) who was responsible for catching a previous serial killer years earlier.

At the same time, a recently widowed novelist named Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott) and his young son Jake move to Garretton, the town where his late wife Rebecca was born and raised. Both Tom and Jake are struggling with their family’s loss in their own distinct ways. For Jake, it’s his imaginary friend – a young girl in a blue sweater who he routinely confides in. Tom hopes making new friends in Garretton might give his son a fresh start.

But horror strikes after Jake is abducted in the middle of the night. Frustrated at the police’s lack of results, Tom reluctantly but desperately looks for help from his estranged father, Pete. Old family wounds immediately begin to fester, but they put them aside for the sake of finding Jake. Pete starts tapping into his old connections within the police department while an impatient Tom begins an investigation of his own. At the same time, Amanda remains on the case. Soon all of their efforts intersect in an underwhelming final act that struggles to move the dramatic needle.

Screenwriters Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer do a good job setting things up. They also create and mostly sustain a fittingly dark atmosphere. But it’s not the most involving mystery. And it’s slightly undermined by the fairly routine blueprint it follows. The family drama, especially between Tom and his father, is too thinly explored to leave much of a mark. The thrills are a bit undercooked and the twists we get aren’t the most compelling.

While the material may let them down, “The Whisper Man” features some solid performances. With the exception of De Niro who seems to be operating in cruise control, everyone works at the right temperature. There’s even a surprising cameo by Michael Keaton that is chillingly effective. But considering the mix of subject matter and genre, the movie should pack more of a punch. Instead it’s an overly familiar crime thriller that leaves us wishing for the richer and heavier movie it could have been.

VERDICT – 2 STARS