diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bc89c12..42414c2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+* Added more checks when decoding JSON Files
+
 ## [1.1.0] - 2022-11-04
 
 Dropped support for PHP <8.1
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index d8d0b76..0292dbb 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
         ]
     },
     "scripts-descriptions": {
-        "clean": "Recreates ",
+        "clean": "Recreates the build/cache directory",
         "phpstan": "Runs static analysis with PHPStan",
         "phpunit": "Runs tests with PHPUnit",
         "psalm": "Runs static analysis with Psalm",
diff --git a/src/Json.php b/src/Json.php
index ff38e9c..bb3e273 100644
--- a/src/Json.php
+++ b/src/Json.php
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 namespace Beste;
 
 use JsonException;
+use SplFileInfo;
+use SplFileObject;
+use Throwable;
 use UnexpectedValueException;
 
 final class Json
@@ -14,11 +17,11 @@ final class Json
     private const DECODE_DEFAULT = JSON_BIGINT_AS_STRING;
 
     /**
-     * @throws UnexpectedValueException
+     * param non-empty-string $json
      *
-     * @return mixed
+     * @throws UnexpectedValueException
      */
-    public static function decode(string $json, ?bool $forceArray = null)
+    public static function decode(string $json, ?bool $forceArray = null): mixed
     {
         $forceArray = $forceArray ?? false;
         $flags = $forceArray ? JSON_OBJECT_AS_ARRAY : 0;
@@ -31,25 +34,44 @@ public static function decode(string $json, ?bool $forceArray = null)
     }
 
     /**
-     * @throws UnexpectedValueException
+     * @param non-empty-string $path
      *
-     * @return mixed
+     * @throws UnexpectedValueException
      */
-    public static function decodeFile(string $path, bool $forceArray = null)
+    public static function decodeFile(string $path, bool $forceArray = null): mixed
     {
-        if (!is_readable($path)) {
-            throw new UnexpectedValueException("The file at '$path' does not exist");
+        $fileInfo = new SplFileInfo($path);
+
+        if ($fileInfo->isLink() && $linkTarget = $fileInfo->getLinkTarget()) {
+            $fileInfo = new SplFileInfo($linkTarget);
+        }
+
+        if (!$fileInfo->isFile()) {
+            throw new UnexpectedValueException("`$path` does not point to a file.");
+        }
+
+        if (!$fileInfo->isReadable()) {
+            throw new UnexpectedValueException("`$path` is not readable.");
+        }
+
+        $file = $fileInfo->openFile();
+        $contents = $file->fread($file->getSize());
+
+        if ($contents === false) {
+            throw new UnexpectedValueException("Unable to read contents of `$path`");
         }
 
-        return self::decode((string) file_get_contents($path), $forceArray);
+        if ($contents === '') {
+            throw new UnexpectedValueException("The file at `$path` is empty");
+        }
+
+        return self::decode($contents, $forceArray);
     }
 
     /**
-     * @param mixed $data
-     *
      * @throws UnexpectedValueException
      */
-    public static function encode($data, ?int $options = null): string
+    public static function encode(mixed $data, ?int $options = null): string
     {
         $options = $options ?? 0;
 
@@ -61,11 +83,9 @@ public static function encode($data, ?int $options = null): string
     }
 
     /**
-     * @param mixed $value
-     *
      * @throws UnexpectedValueException
      */
-    public static function pretty($value, ?int $options = null): string
+    public static function pretty(mixed $value, ?int $options = null): string
     {
         $options = $options ?? 0;
 
diff --git a/tests/DecodeJsonTest.php b/tests/DecodeJsonTest.php
index ec52930..78a1886 100644
--- a/tests/DecodeJsonTest.php
+++ b/tests/DecodeJsonTest.php
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 namespace Beste\Json\Tests;
 
 use Beste\Json;
+use SplFileObject;
 use UnexpectedValueException;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
 
@@ -68,10 +69,33 @@ public function it_rejects_an_unreadable_file(): void
     public function it_rejects_a_file_with_invalid_json(): void
     {
         $path = __DIR__.'/invalid.json';
+        assert(file_exists($path));
 
         $this->expectException(UnexpectedValueException::class);
-        assert(file_exists($path));
+        Json::decodeFile($path);
+    }
+
+    /** @test */
+    public function it_rejects_a_directory(): void
+    {
+        $this->expectException(UnexpectedValueException::class);
+        Json::decodeFile(__DIR__);
+    }
+
+    /** @test */
+    public function it_resolves_links(): void
+    {
+        $path = __DIR__.'/valid.json';
+        $symlinkPath = __DIR__.'/'.__FUNCTION__.'.json';
+
+        try {
+            $this->assertNotFalse(symlink($path, $symlinkPath));
+            $this->assertTrue(is_link($symlinkPath));
+
+            $this->assertIsObject(Json::decodeFile($symlinkPath));
+        } finally {
+            unlink($symlinkPath);
+        }
 
-        $this->assertIsObject(Json::decodeFile($path));
     }
 }