diff --git a/api/mraa/gpio.h b/api/mraa/gpio.h
index 85d8e87..b45e8f3 100644
--- a/api/mraa/gpio.h
+++ b/api/mraa/gpio.h
@@ -157,7 +157,8 @@ mraa_result_t mraa_gpio_dir(mraa_gpio_context dev, gpio_dir_t dir);
 mraa_result_t mraa_gpio_close(mraa_gpio_context dev);
 
 /**
- * Read the Gpio value.
+ * Read the Gpio value. This can be 0 or 1. A resonse of -1 means that there
+ * was a fatal error.
  *
  * @param dev The Gpio context
  * @return Result of operation
diff --git a/src/gpio/gpio.c b/src/gpio/gpio.c
index 896e688..2bfa7dc 100644
--- a/src/gpio/gpio.c
+++ b/src/gpio/gpio.c
@@ -430,6 +430,9 @@ mraa_gpio_dir(mraa_gpio_context dev, gpio_dir_t dir)
 int
 mraa_gpio_read(mraa_gpio_context dev)
 {
+    if (dev == NULL)
+        return -1;
+
     if (dev->value_fp == -1) {
         if (mraa_gpio_get_valfp(dev) != MRAA_SUCCESS) {
              syslog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to get value file pointer");
@@ -442,17 +445,19 @@ mraa_gpio_read(mraa_gpio_context dev)
     char bu[2];
     if (read(dev->value_fp, bu, 2*sizeof(char)) != 2) {
         syslog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to read a sensible value from sysfs");
+	return -1;
     }
     lseek(dev->value_fp, 0, SEEK_SET);
-    int ret = strtol(bu, NULL, 10);
 
-    return ret;
-    return 0;
+    return strtol(bu, NULL, 10);
 }
 
 mraa_result_t
 mraa_gpio_write(mraa_gpio_context dev, int value)
 {
+    if (dev == NULL)
+        return MRAA_ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE;
+
     if (dev->mmap == 1)
         return mraa_gpio_write_register(dev,value);