diff --git a/getm/concurrent/buffers.py b/getm/concurrent/buffers.py
index f674b2a..81c5102 100644
--- a/getm/concurrent/buffers.py
+++ b/getm/concurrent/buffers.py
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@ def __init__(self, name: Optional[str]=None, size: int=0, create=False):
             self._did_create = True
         else:
             self._shared_memory = SharedMemory(name)
-        self._view = self._shared_memory.buf
+        # self._view = self._shared_memory.buf
+
+    @property
+    def _view(self):
+        return self._shared_memory.buf
 
     @property
     def size(self):
diff --git a/getm/reader.py b/getm/reader.py
index f3b1000..5efe08c 100644
--- a/getm/reader.py
+++ b/getm/reader.py
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 import io
+import sys
 import time
+import logging
 import warnings
+import traceback
 from math import ceil
 from collections import deque
 from multiprocessing import Process
@@ -12,6 +15,9 @@
 from getm.concurrent import ConcurrentQueue, ConcurrentPool, SharedCircularBuffer, SharedBufferArray
 
 
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
 class BaseURLReader(io.IOBase):
     def readable(self):
         return True
@@ -176,6 +182,13 @@ def compute_buffer_size(concurrent_downloads: int, chunk_size: int) -> int:
         return buffer_size
 
     def run(self):
+        try:
+            self._run()
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.error(f"reader subprocesses exiting due to '{traceback.format_exc()}'")
+            sys.exit(1)
+
+    def _run(self):
         with http_session().get(self.url, stream=True) as resp:
             handle = resp.raw
             start = stop = 0
@@ -193,21 +206,32 @@ def run(self):
                     stop += bytes_read
                     buf.stop = stop
 
-    def read(self, sz: int=-1):
+    def _check_buf(self) -> SharedCircularBuffer:
+        if self.exitcode:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"subprocesses quit with non-zero exitcode {self.exitcode}")
+        return self._buf
+
+    def _read(self, sz: int=-1):
         if -1 == sz:
             sz = self.max_read
-        self._buf.start = self._start
+        self._check_buf().start = self._start
         sz = min(sz, self.max_read)
         while sz > self._stop - self._start and self._stop < self.size:
-            self._stop = self._buf.stop
+            self._stop = self._check_buf().stop
         sz = min(sz, self._stop - self._start)
         if sz:
-            res = self._buf[self._start: self._start + sz]
+            res = self._check_buf()[self._start: self._start + sz]
             self._start += len(res)
             return res
         else:
             return memoryview(bytes())
 
+    def read(self, sz: int=-1):
+        try:
+            return self._read(sz)
+        except RuntimeError:
+            return memoryview(bytes())
+
     def readinto(self, buff: bytearray) -> int:
         d = self.read(len(buff))
         bytes_read = len(d)
@@ -220,6 +244,8 @@ def close(self):
         self.join(timeout=5)
         self._buf.close()
         super().close()
+        if self.exitcode:
+            raise RuntimeError()
 
     def __enter__(self):
         self.start()