What is the narrator point of view in the novel, The Whisper Man?

The majority of this story is told from the point of view of a third person narrator. Each chapter, for the most part, follows one character and narrates the events through that character’s perspective. For instance, in Chapter 32, North focuses on Jake’s perspective of the meeting between his father, and Pete, the man whom Jake believes is just a police officer. Jake compares his father’s behavior to what he knows, which is school: “He’d been fine with the other police people, but he looked pale and scared now, as though this were a classroom for him and the new policeman was someone like Mrs. Shelley” (170).

Tom’s sections of the novel are told from the first-person point of view. North seems to use this different point of view to differentiate Tom’s present-day story from the stories of the other characters. Tom’s story is based in the present. He is presently dealing with trying to parent his son after the death of his wife. He is also dealing with the present abduction of his son. Pete’s experience with the Whisper Man is in the past even though Tony’s body has yet to be located. Amanda deals with George’s crimes but her story is tied to Pete’s enough that it is presented in the third person as well. George’s story is also presented in the third person because his urge to kill children comes from his past experience with his father.

North also uses a spattering of the second-person point of view. In Chapter 54, George refers to his house in this way: “That if you did find yourself driving past for some reason, you would understand on some primal level that it was not a location in which to linger” (284). By referring to the reader “you” in this sense, the reader is drawn into the story. Each reader can bring to mind a street or a house in their hometown that is scary, a place where people do not spend a good deal of time. This makes the story relevant to the reader.