diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 91a8a09..c68b9c4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
 > This project uses [Break Versioning](https://github.com/ptaoussanis/encore/blob/master/BREAK-VERSIONING.md) as of **Aug 16, 2014**.
 
+## v2.9.0-RC3 / 2015 May 29
+
+> This is a non-breaking **stability release**
+
+* **Implementation**: more robust error handling for unthawable records
+
+```clojure
+[com.taoensso/nippy "2.9.0-RC3"]
+```
+
+
 ## v2.9.0-RC2 / 2015 May 6
 
 > This is a non-breaking **performance release**
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 12ef1dd..686c5f2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 ```clojure
 [com.taoensso/nippy "2.8.0"]     ; Stable
-[com.taoensso/nippy "2.9.0-RC2"] ; Dev, please see CHANGELOG for details
+[com.taoensso/nippy "2.9.0-RC3"] ; Dev, please see CHANGELOG for details
 ```
 
 # Nippy, a Clojure serialization library
diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index 78e5096..9b3ec96 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-(defproject com.taoensso/nippy "2.9.0-RC2"
+(defproject com.taoensso/nippy "2.9.0-RC3"
   :author "Peter Taoussanis <https://www.taoensso.com>"
   :description "Clojure serialization library"
   :url "https://github.com/ptaoussanis/nippy"
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
   :dependencies
   [[org.clojure/clojure      "1.4.0"]
    [org.clojure/tools.reader "0.9.2"]
-   [com.taoensso/encore      "1.28.0"]
+   [com.taoensso/encore      "1.32.0"]
    [org.iq80.snappy/snappy   "0.3"]
    [org.tukaani/xz           "1.5"]
    [net.jpountz.lz4/lz4      "1.3"]]
diff --git a/src/taoensso/nippy.clj b/src/taoensso/nippy.clj
index e825440..c0f01ec 100644
--- a/src/taoensso/nippy.clj
+++ b/src/taoensso/nippy.clj
@@ -461,6 +461,7 @@
      (encore/repeatedly-into* ~coll (quot (.readInt in#) 2)
        [(thaw-from-in in#) (thaw-from-in in#)])))
 
+(def ^:private class-method-sig (into-array Class [IPersistentMap]))
 
 (declare ^:private custom-readers)
 (defn- read-custom! [type-id in]
@@ -489,21 +490,40 @@
 
         id-reader
         (let [edn (read-utf8 in)]
-          (try (edn/read-string {:readers *data-readers*} edn)
-               (catch Exception e {:nippy/unthawable edn
-                                   :type :reader
-                                   :throwable e})))
+          (try
+            (edn/read-string {:readers *data-readers*} edn)
+            (catch Exception e
+              {:type :reader
+               :throwable e
+               :nippy/unthawable edn})))
 
         id-serializable
         (let [class-name (read-utf8 in)]
-          (try (let [;; .readObject _before_ Class/forName: it'll always read
-                     ;; all data before throwing
-                     object (.readObject (ObjectInputStream. in))
-                     ^Class class (Class/forName class-name)]
-                 (cast class object))
-               (catch Exception e {:nippy/unthawable class-name
-                                   :type :serializable
-                                   :throwable e})))
+          (try
+            (let [content (.readObject (ObjectInputStream. in))]
+              (try
+                (let [class (Class/forName class-name)]
+                  (cast class content))
+                (catch Exception e
+                  {:type :serializable
+                   :throwable e
+                   :nippy/unthawable {:class-name class-name :content content}})))
+            (catch Exception e
+              {:type :serializable
+               :throwable e
+               :nippy/unthawable {:class-name class-name :content nil}})))
+
+        id-record
+        (let [class-name (read-utf8    in)
+              content    (thaw-from-in in)]
+          (try
+            (let [class  (Class/forName class-name)
+                  method (.getMethod class "create" class-method-sig)]
+              (.invoke method class (into-array Object [content])))
+            (catch Exception e
+              {:type :record
+               :throwable e
+               :nippy/unthawable {:class-name class-name :content content}})))
 
         id-bytes   (read-bytes in)
         id-nil     nil
@@ -552,12 +572,6 @@
         id-ratio (/ (bigint (read-biginteger in))
                     (bigint (read-biginteger in)))
 
-        id-record
-        (let [class    ^Class (Class/forName (read-utf8 in))
-              meth-sig (into-array Class [IPersistentMap])
-              method   ^Method (.getMethod class "create" meth-sig)]
-          (.invoke method class (into-array Object [(thaw-from-in in)])))
-
         id-date  (Date. (.readLong in))
         id-uuid  (UUID. (.readLong in) (.readLong in))