diff --git a/cli/tests/integration_tests.rs b/cli/tests/integration_tests.rs
index cb6dfad6d9..e4de423ee0 100644
--- a/cli/tests/integration_tests.rs
+++ b/cli/tests/integration_tests.rs
@@ -1656,6 +1656,31 @@ fn repl_test_pty_unpaired_braces() {
   }
 }
 
+#[cfg(unix)]
+#[test]
+fn repl_test_pty_bad_input() {
+  use std::io::Read;
+  use util::pty::fork::*;
+  let deno_exe = util::deno_exe_path();
+  let fork = Fork::from_ptmx().unwrap();
+  if let Ok(mut master) = fork.is_parent() {
+    master.write_all(b"'\\u{1f3b5}'[0]\n").unwrap();
+    master.write_all(b"close();\n").unwrap();
+
+    let mut output = String::new();
+    master.read_to_string(&mut output).unwrap();
+
+    assert!(output.contains("Unterminated string literal"));
+
+    fork.wait().unwrap();
+  } else {
+    std::env::set_var("NO_COLOR", "1");
+    let err = exec::Command::new(deno_exe).arg("repl").exec();
+    println!("err {}", err);
+    unreachable!()
+  }
+}
+
 #[test]
 #[ignore]
 fn run_watch_with_importmap_and_relative_paths() {
diff --git a/runtime/inspector.rs b/runtime/inspector.rs
index 89fd5bf576..fc0e793d9d 100644
--- a/runtime/inspector.rs
+++ b/runtime/inspector.rs
@@ -859,7 +859,28 @@ impl v8::inspector::ChannelImpl for InspectorSession {
     message: v8::UniquePtr<v8::inspector::StringBuffer>,
   ) {
     let raw_message = message.unwrap().string().to_string();
-    let message = serde_json::from_str(&raw_message).unwrap();
+    let message: serde_json::Value = match serde_json::from_str(&raw_message) {
+      Ok(v) => v,
+      Err(error) => match error.classify() {
+        serde_json::error::Category::Syntax => json!({
+          "id": call_id,
+          "result": {
+            "result": {
+              "type": "error",
+              "description": "Unterminated string literal",
+              "value": "Unterminated string literal",
+            },
+            "exceptionDetails": {
+              "exceptionId": 0,
+              "text": "Unterminated string literal",
+              "lineNumber": 0,
+              "columnNumber": 0
+            },
+          },
+        }),
+        _ => panic!("Could not parse inspector message"),
+      },
+    };
 
     self
       .response_tx_map