diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a7f9cec..e8637db 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -59,11 +59,24 @@ wkhtmltopdf('http://apple.com/', {
   output: 'out.pdf',
   ignore: ['QFont::setPixelSize: Pixel size <= 0 (0)']
 });
+
 // RegExp also acceptable
 wkhtmltopdf('http://apple.com/', { 
   output: 'out.pdf',
   ignore: [/QFont::setPixelSize/]
 });
+
+// Using as express middlware
+function exampleMiddleware (req, res, next) {
+  wkhtmltopdf(('<h1>Test</h1><p>Hello express</p>', { timeout: 30 }, function (err, stream) {
+    if (err) {
+      return next(err);
+    }
+    res.attachment(`out.pdf`);
+    stream.pipe(res);
+  })
+}
+
 ```
 
 `wkhtmltopdf` is just a function, which you call with either a URL or an inline HTML string, and it returns
@@ -72,12 +85,14 @@ a stream that you can read from or pipe to wherever you like (e.g. a file, or an
 ## Options
 
 There are [many options](http://wkhtmltopdf.org/docs.html) available to
-wkhtmltopdf.  All of the command line options are supported as documented on the page linked to above.  The
+wkhtmltopdf. All of the command line options are supported as documented on the page linked to above. The
 options are camelCased instead-of-dashed as in the command line tool. Note that options that do not have values, must be specified as a boolean, e.g. **debugJavascript: true**
 
 There is also an `output` option that can be used to write the output directly to a filename, instead of returning
 a stream.
 
+To interrupt a long running wkhtmltopdf process use `timeout` option with a value of seconds to wait for regular termination. Any falsy value means "wait as long as possible", that's default.
+
 ### Debug Options
 
 Apart from the **debugJavascript** option from wkhtmltopdf, there is an additional options **debug** and **debugStdOut** which will help you debug rendering issues, by outputting data to the console. **debug** prints and **stderr** messages while **debugStdOut** prints any **stdout** warning messages.
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index e1471be..5e16b58 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ function wkhtmltopdf(input, options, callback) {
 
   keys.forEach(function(key) {
     var val = options[key];
-    if (key === 'ignore' || key === 'debug' || key === 'debugStdOut') { // skip adding the ignore/debug keys
+    if (key === 'ignore' || key === 'debug' || key === 'debugStdOut' || key === 'timeout') { // skip adding the ignore/debug keys
       return false;
     }
 
@@ -124,14 +124,24 @@ function wkhtmltopdf(input, options, callback) {
     var child = spawn(wkhtmltopdf.shell, ['-c', 'set -o pipefail ; ' + args.join(' ') + ' | cat'], spawnOptions);
   }
 
+  var timeout
+  if (options.timeout) {
+    timeout = setTimeout( function () {
+      var timeoutError = new Error('Child process terminated due to timeout');
+      timeoutError.code = '_EXIT_TIMEOUT';
+      handleError(timeoutError);
+    }, options.timeout*1000);
+  }
+
   var stream = child.stdout;
 
   // call the callback with null error when the process exits successfully
   child.on('exit', function(code) {
     if (code !== 0) {
-      stderrMessages.push('wkhtmltopdf exited with code ' + code);
+      stderrMessages.code = code;
       handleError(stderrMessages);
     } else if (callback) {
+      clearTimeout(timeout);
       callback(null, stream); // stream is child.stdout
     }
   });
@@ -140,12 +150,26 @@ function wkhtmltopdf(input, options, callback) {
   var stderrMessages = [];
   function handleError(err) {
     var errObj = null;
+    var code;
+    var parallelError;
     if (Array.isArray(err)) {
+      code = err.code;
+      parallelError = err.parallelError;
+      // as `err` could contain a small chunks of stdout (and it does sometimes in Windows)
+      // we have to concatenate it before using
+      err = Buffer.concat(err).toString();
+      var lines = err.split(/[\r\n]+/)
+        .map(function(line) {
+          return line.trim();
+        })
+        .filter(function(line) {
+          return !!line;
+        })
       // check ignore warnings array before killing child
       if (options.ignore && options.ignore instanceof Array) {
         var ignoreError = false;
         options.ignore.forEach(function(opt) {
-          err.forEach(function(error) {
+          lines.forEach(function(error) {
             if (typeof opt === 'string' && opt === error) {
               ignoreError = true;
             }
@@ -158,10 +182,19 @@ function wkhtmltopdf(input, options, callback) {
           return true;
         }
       }
-      errObj = new Error(err.join('\n'));
+      errObj = new Error(lines[0] || ('Child process finished with exit code ' + code));
+      errObj.code = 'WKHTMLTOPDF_EXIT_ERROR';
+      errObj.errno = code;
+      errObj.details = err;
+      errObj.parallelError = parallelError;
+    } else if (err instanceof Error) {
+      errObj = err;
     } else if (err) {
-      errObj =  new Error(err);
+      errObj = new Error(err);
     }
+    errObj.args = args;
+
+    clearTimeout(timeout);
     child.removeAllListeners('exit');
     child.kill();
     // call the callback if there is one
@@ -177,11 +210,11 @@ function wkhtmltopdf(input, options, callback) {
   }
 
   child.once('error', function(err) {
-    throw new Error(err); // critical error
+    handleError(err); // critical error
   });
 
   child.stderr.on('data', function(data) {
-    stderrMessages.push((data || '').toString());
+    stderrMessages.push(data);
     if (options.debug instanceof Function) {
       options.debug(data);
     } else if (options.debug) {
@@ -205,10 +238,11 @@ function wkhtmltopdf(input, options, callback) {
 
   // write input to stdin if it isn't a url
   if (!isUrl && !isArray) {
-    // Handle errors on the input stream (happens when command cannot run)
-    child.stdin.on('error', handleError);
     if (isStream(input)) {
-      input.pipe(child.stdin);
+      input.pipe(child.stdin)
+        .on('error', function(e) {
+          stderrMessages.parallelError = e;
+        });
     } else {
       child.stdin.end(input);
     }