diff --git a/src/main/java/com/stripe/net/LiveStripeResponseGetter.java b/src/main/java/com/stripe/net/LiveStripeResponseGetter.java
index 0caba0cfd38..f11e94b87d1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/stripe/net/LiveStripeResponseGetter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/stripe/net/LiveStripeResponseGetter.java
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 import com.google.gson.JsonSyntaxException;
 import com.stripe.Stripe;
 import com.stripe.exception.*;
-import com.stripe.exception.ApiKeyMissingException;
 import com.stripe.exception.oauth.InvalidClientException;
 import com.stripe.exception.oauth.InvalidGrantException;
 import com.stripe.exception.oauth.InvalidScopeException;
@@ -289,22 +288,27 @@ private StripeError parseStripeError(
   }
 
   private void handleError(StripeResponse response, ApiMode apiMode) throws StripeException {
-    JsonObject responseBody = ApiResource.GSON.fromJson(response.body(), JsonObject.class);
-
-    /*
-     OAuth errors are JSON objects where `error` is a string. In
-     contrast, in API errors, `error` is a hash with sub-keys. We use
-     this property to distinguish between OAuth and API errors.
-    */
-    if (responseBody.has("error") && responseBody.get("error").isJsonPrimitive()) {
-      JsonPrimitive error = responseBody.getAsJsonPrimitive("error");
-      if (error.isString()) {
-        handleOAuthError(response);
+    try {
+      /*
+      OAuth errors are JSON objects where `error` is a string. In
+      contrast, in API errors, `error` is a hash with sub-keys. We use
+      this property to distinguish between OAuth and API errors.
+
+      Try to read the response body to see if it must be
+      */
+      JsonObject responseBody = ApiResource.GSON.fromJson(response.body(), JsonObject.class);
+      if (responseBody.has("error") && responseBody.get("error").isJsonPrimitive()) {
+        JsonPrimitive error = responseBody.getAsJsonPrimitive("error");
+        if (error.isString()) {
+          handleOAuthError(response);
+        }
+      } else if (apiMode == ApiMode.V2) {
+        handleV2ApiError(response);
+      } else {
+        handleV1ApiError(response);
       }
-    } else if (apiMode == ApiMode.V2) {
-      handleV2ApiError(response);
-    } else {
-      handleV1ApiError(response);
+    } catch (JsonSyntaxException e) {
+      throw makeMalformedJsonError(response.body(), response.code(), response.requestId(), e);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/stripe/functional/LiveStripeResponseGetterTest.java b/src/test/java/com/stripe/functional/LiveStripeResponseGetterTest.java
index afc1f623ff4..8a470940027 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/stripe/functional/LiveStripeResponseGetterTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/stripe/functional/LiveStripeResponseGetterTest.java
@@ -63,4 +63,19 @@ public void testIdempotencyError() throws StripeException {
             });
     assertThat(exception.getMessage(), CoreMatchers.containsString("idempotency"));
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testErrorWithJsonSyntaxException() throws Exception {
+    HttpClient spy = Mockito.spy(new HttpURLConnectionClient());
+    StripeResponseGetter srg = new LiveStripeResponseGetter(spy);
+    ApiResource.setGlobalResponseGetter(srg);
+    StripeResponse response =
+        new StripeResponse(400, HttpHeaders.of(Collections.emptyMap()), "I am not JSON :)");
+    Mockito.doReturn(response).when(spy).requestWithRetries(Mockito.<StripeRequest>any());
+    assertThrows(
+        StripeException.class,
+        () -> {
+          Subscription.retrieve("sub_123");
+        });
+  }
 }