diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 136a026..fd1293c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ modified.
 
 decodes `data`, which can be either a buffer or array of integers, from position `offset` or default 0 and returns the decoded original integer.
 
+Throws a `RangeError` when `data` does not represent a valid encoding.
+
 ### varint.decode.bytes
 
 if you also require the length (number of bytes) that were required to decode the integer you can access it via `varint.decode.bytes`. this is an integer property that will tell you the number of bytes that the last .decode() call had to use to decode.
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ returns the number of bytes this number will be encoded as, up to a maximum of 8
 ## usage notes
 
 If varint is passed a buffer that does not contain a valid end
-byte, then `decode` will return undefined, and `decode.bytes` 
+byte, then `decode` will throw `RangeError`, and `decode.bytes` 
 will be set to 0. If you are reading from a streaming source,
 it's okay to pass an incomplete buffer into `decode`, detect this
 case, and then concatenate the next buffer.
diff --git a/decode.js b/decode.js
index 67768be..4d274c2 100644
--- a/decode.js
+++ b/decode.js
@@ -12,10 +12,9 @@ function read(buf, offset) {
     , l = buf.length
 
   do {
-    if(counter >= l) {
+    if (counter >= l) {
       read.bytes = 0
-      read.bytesRead = 0 // DEPRECATED
-      throw new Error('Could not decode varint')
+      throw new RangeError('Could not decode varint')
     }
     b = buf[counter++]
     res += shift < 28
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index e746562..0138ff4 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -124,10 +124,12 @@ test('buffer too short', function (assert) {
 
   var l = buffer.length
   while(l--) {
-    var val = decode(buffer.slice(0, l))
-    assert.equal(val, undefined)
-    assert.equal(decode.bytes, 0)
-    assert.equal(decode.bytesRead, 0)
+    try {
+      var val = decode(buffer.slice(0, l))
+    } catch (err) {
+      assert.equal(err.constructor, RangeError)
+      assert.equal(decode.bytes, 0)
+    }
   }
   assert.end()
 })