diff --git a/src/kinesis.test.ts b/src/kinesis.test.ts
index bb93141..01347d0 100644
--- a/src/kinesis.test.ts
+++ b/src/kinesis.test.ts
@@ -6,11 +6,13 @@ const logger: jest.Mocked<LoggerInterface> = {
   info: jest.fn(),
   error: jest.fn(),
   child: jest.fn(),
+  warn: jest.fn(),
 } as any;
 
 beforeEach(() => {
   logger.info.mockReset();
   logger.error.mockReset();
+  logger.warn.mockReset();
   logger.child.mockReset();
   logger.child.mockImplementation(() => logger);
 });
@@ -593,4 +595,92 @@ describe('KinesisEventHandler', () => {
       );
     });
   });
+
+  test('throws when encountering an unparseable message', async () => {
+    const lambda = new KinesisEventHandler({
+      logger,
+      parseEvent: testSerializer.parseEvent,
+      createRunContext: () => ({}),
+    }).lambda();
+
+    await expect(
+      lambda(
+        {
+          Records: [
+            {
+              kinesis: {
+                partitionKey: uuid(),
+                data: Buffer.from('not-a-json-string', 'utf-8').toString(
+                  'base64',
+                ),
+              },
+            },
+          ] as any,
+        },
+        {} as any,
+      ),
+    ).rejects.toThrow('Unexpected token o in JSON at position 1');
+
+    expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        err: expect.objectContaining({
+          message: 'Unexpected token o in JSON at position 1',
+        }),
+      }),
+      'Failed to parse event',
+    );
+  });
+
+  test('respects ignoreUnparseableEvents', async () => {
+    const processor = jest.fn();
+    const lambda = new KinesisEventHandler({
+      logger,
+      parseEvent: testSerializer.parseEvent,
+      createRunContext: () => ({}),
+      ignoreUnparseableEvents: true,
+    })
+      .onEvent((ctx, event) => processor(event))
+      .lambda();
+
+    await lambda(
+      {
+        Records: [
+          {
+            kinesis: {
+              partitionKey: uuid(),
+              data: Buffer.from('not-a-json-string', 'utf-8').toString(
+                'base64',
+              ),
+            },
+          },
+          {
+            kinesis: {
+              partitionKey: uuid(),
+              data: Buffer.from(
+                JSON.stringify({ message: 'test-message' }),
+                'utf-8',
+              ).toString('base64'),
+            },
+          },
+        ] as any,
+      },
+      {} as any,
+    );
+
+    expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        err: expect.objectContaining({
+          message: 'Unexpected token o in JSON at position 1',
+        }),
+      }),
+      'Failed to parse event',
+    );
+
+    expect(logger.warn).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      'ignoreUnparseableEvents is set to true. Ignoring message.',
+    );
+
+    expect(processor).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(processor).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ message: 'test-message' });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/kinesis.ts b/src/kinesis.ts
index 0a128ab..91ba403 100644
--- a/src/kinesis.ts
+++ b/src/kinesis.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ export type KinesisEventHandlerConfig<Event, Context> =
      * A function for parsing the Kinesis event data into your custom type.
      */
     parseEvent: (body: string) => Event;
+
+    /**
+     * Whether to ignore events that fail to parse. If set to true,
+     * throwing in the custom parsing function will cause the event
+     * to be ignored, and never processed.
+     */
+    ignoreUnparseableEvents?: boolean;
   };
 
 export type KinesisEventAction<Event, Context> = (
@@ -93,9 +100,21 @@ export class KinesisEventHandler<Event, Context> {
             eventId: record.eventID,
           });
 
-          const parsedEvent = this.config.parseEvent(
-            Buffer.from(record.kinesis.data, 'base64').toString('utf8'),
-          );
+          let parsedEvent: Event;
+          try {
+            parsedEvent = this.config.parseEvent(
+              Buffer.from(record.kinesis.data, 'base64').toString('utf8'),
+            );
+          } catch (err) {
+            eventLogger.error({ err }, 'Failed to parse event');
+            if (this.config.ignoreUnparseableEvents) {
+              eventLogger.warn(
+                'ignoreUnparseableEvents is set to true. Ignoring message.',
+              );
+              return;
+            }
+            throw err;
+          }
 
           for (const action of this.actions) {
             await action({ ...context, logger: eventLogger }, parsedEvent);
diff --git a/src/sqs.test.ts b/src/sqs.test.ts
index 5d369a0..bd537a8 100644
--- a/src/sqs.test.ts
+++ b/src/sqs.test.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const logger: jest.Mocked<LoggerInterface> = {
   info: jest.fn(),
   error: jest.fn(),
   child: jest.fn(),
+  warn: jest.fn(),
 } as any;
 
 let publicKey: string;
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ beforeAll(async () => {
 beforeEach(() => {
   logger.info.mockReset();
   logger.error.mockReset();
+  logger.warn.mockReset();
   logger.child.mockReset();
   logger.child.mockImplementation(() => logger);
 });
@@ -792,4 +794,66 @@ describe('SQSMessageHandler', () => {
       );
     });
   });
+
+  test('throws when encountering an unparseable message', async () => {
+    const lambda = new SQSMessageHandler({
+      logger,
+      parseMessage: testSerializer.parseMessage,
+      createRunContext: () => ({}),
+    }).lambda();
+
+    await expect(
+      lambda(
+        { Records: [{ attributes: {}, body: 'not-a-json-string' }] } as any,
+        {} as any,
+      ),
+    ).rejects.toThrow('Unexpected token o in JSON at position 1');
+
+    expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        err: expect.objectContaining({
+          message: 'Unexpected token o in JSON at position 1',
+        }),
+      }),
+      'Failed to parse message',
+    );
+  });
+
+  test('respects ignoreUnparseableMessages', async () => {
+    const processor = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(void 0);
+    const lambda = new SQSMessageHandler({
+      logger,
+      parseMessage: testSerializer.parseMessage,
+      createRunContext: () => ({}),
+      ignoreUnparseableMessages: true,
+    })
+      .onMessage((ctx, message) => processor(message))
+      .lambda();
+
+    await lambda(
+      {
+        Records: [
+          { attributes: {}, body: 'not-a-json-string' },
+          { attributes: {}, body: JSON.stringify({ message: 'test-message' }) },
+        ],
+      } as any,
+      {} as any,
+    );
+
+    expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        err: expect.objectContaining({
+          message: 'Unexpected token o in JSON at position 1',
+        }),
+      }),
+      'Failed to parse message',
+    );
+
+    expect(logger.warn).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      'ignoreUnparseableMessages is set to true. Ignoring message.',
+    );
+
+    expect(processor).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(processor).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ message: 'test-message' });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/sqs.ts b/src/sqs.ts
index fc7de2a..d91c2fe 100644
--- a/src/sqs.ts
+++ b/src/sqs.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,13 @@ export type SQSMessageHandlerConfig<Message, Context> =
        */
       publicKeyDescription: string;
     };
+
+    /**
+     * Whether to ignore messages that fail to parse. If set to true,
+     * throwing in the custom parsing function will cause the message
+     * to be ignored, and never processed.
+     */
+    ignoreUnparseableMessages?: boolean;
   };
 
 export type SQSMessageAction<Message, Context> = (
@@ -183,8 +190,19 @@ export class SQSMessageHandler<Message, Context> {
             messageId: record.messageId,
           });
 
-          const parsedMessage = this.config.parseMessage(record.body);
-
+          let parsedMessage: Message;
+          try {
+            parsedMessage = this.config.parseMessage(record.body);
+          } catch (err) {
+            messageLogger.error({ err }, 'Failed to parse message');
+            if (this.config.ignoreUnparseableMessages) {
+              messageLogger.warn(
+                'ignoreUnparseableMessages is set to true. Ignoring message.',
+              );
+              return;
+            }
+            throw err;
+          }
           for (const action of this.messageActions) {
             await action({ ...context, logger: messageLogger }, parsedMessage);
           }