diff --git a/decoder.go b/decoder.go
index c01be83..85c826b 100644
--- a/decoder.go
+++ b/decoder.go
@@ -40,7 +40,19 @@ func DefaultDecoder(r *http.Request, v interface{}) error {
 // DecodeJSON decodes a given reader into an interface using the json decoder.
 func DecodeJSON(r io.Reader, v interface{}) error {
 	defer io.Copy(io.Discard, r) //nolint:errcheck
-	return json.NewDecoder(r).Decode(v)
+
+	dec := json.NewDecoder(r)
+	if err := dec.Decode(v); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	var extra struct{}
+	if err := dec.Decode(&extra); err != io.EOF {
+		if err == nil {
+			return errors.New("render: extra data after JSON payload")
+		}
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 // DecodeXML decodes a given reader into an interface using the xml decoder.
diff --git a/decoder_test.go b/decoder_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c01842e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/decoder_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+package render
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestDecodeJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("valid json object", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var v struct {
+			Title string `json:"title"`
+		}
+		err := DecodeJSON(strings.NewReader(`{"title": "hello"}`), &v)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if v.Title != "hello" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected hello, got %s", v.Title)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("valid json with trailing whitespace", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var v map[string]interface{}
+		err := DecodeJSON(strings.NewReader("{\"title\": \"hello\"} \n\t\r\n "), &v)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if v["title"] != "hello" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected hello, got %v", v["title"])
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("rejects trailing garbage data", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var v map[string]interface{}
+		// Regression test for issue #42
+		err := DecodeJSON(strings.NewReader("{}\n some garbage data"), &v)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error when trailing garbage data follows valid JSON, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("rejects trailing second json object", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var v map[string]interface{}
+		err := DecodeJSON(strings.NewReader(`{"a": 1} {"b": 2}`), &v)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error when second JSON object follows, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("rejects trailing primitive", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var v map[string]interface{}
+		err := DecodeJSON(strings.NewReader(`{"a": 1} 123`), &v)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error when trailing number follows JSON, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("rejects trailing delimiter", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var v map[string]interface{}
+		err := DecodeJSON(strings.NewReader(`{"a": 1} ]`), &v)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error when trailing delimiter follows JSON, got nil")
+		}
+
+		err = DecodeJSON(strings.NewReader(`{"a": 1} }`), &v)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error when trailing delimiter follows JSON, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("rejects trailing null", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var v map[string]interface{}
+		err := DecodeJSON(strings.NewReader(`{"a": 1} null`), &v)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error when trailing null follows JSON, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("invalid json returns error", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var v map[string]interface{}
+		err := DecodeJSON(strings.NewReader(`{invalid`), &v)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error on invalid JSON, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func TestDefaultDecoder(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("json with trailing garbage returns error", func(t *testing.T) {
+		req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/", strings.NewReader("{}\n some garbage data"))
+		req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+
+		var v map[string]interface{}
+		err := DefaultDecoder(req, &v)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error for request with trailing garbage, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("valid json succeeds", func(t *testing.T) {
+		req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/", bytes.NewBufferString(`{"status": "ok"}`))
+		req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+
+		var v map[string]string
+		err := DefaultDecoder(req, &v)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if v["status"] != "ok" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected ok, got %v", v["status"])
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("unsupported content type returns error", func(t *testing.T) {
+		req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/", strings.NewReader("plain text"))
+		req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "text/plain")
+
+		var v map[string]interface{}
+		err := DefaultDecoder(req, &v)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected error for unsupported content type, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+}