diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index d296ee47..dd0a7578 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -284,6 +284,12 @@
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/json-schema/-/json-schema-7.0.6.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-3c+yGKvVP5Y9TYBEibGNR+kLtijnj7mYrXRg+WpFb2X9xm04g/DXYkfg4hmzJQosc9snFNUPkbYIhu+KAm6jJw=="
     },
+    "@types/json5": {
+      "version": "0.0.30",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/json5/-/json5-0.0.30.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-sqm9g7mHlPY/43fcSNrCYfOeX9zkTTK+euO5E6+CVijSMm5tTjkVdwdqRkY3ljjIAf8679vps5jKUoJBCLsMDA==",
+      "dev": true
+    },
     "@types/minimatch": {
       "version": "3.0.3",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/minimatch/-/minimatch-3.0.3.tgz",
@@ -2192,6 +2198,14 @@
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/json-stable-stringify-without-jsonify/-/json-stable-stringify-without-jsonify-1.0.1.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha1-nbe1lJatPzz+8wp1FC0tkwrXJlE="
     },
+    "json5": {
+      "version": "2.1.3",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/json5/-/json5-2.1.3.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-KXPvOm8K9IJKFM0bmdn8QXh7udDh1g/giieX0NLCaMnb4hEiVFqnop2ImTXCc5e0/oHz3LTqmHGtExn5hfMkOA==",
+      "requires": {
+        "minimist": "^1.2.5"
+      }
+    },
     "jsonfile": {
       "version": "6.0.1",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/jsonfile/-/jsonfile-6.0.1.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5396121b..702160fb 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
     "eslint-plugin-prettier": "^3.1.4",
     "execa": "^4.0.3",
     "inquirer": "^7.3.3",
+    "json5": "^2.1.3",
     "meow": "^7.1.1",
     "ncp": "^2.0.0",
     "prettier": "^2.1.2",
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@
     "@types/eslint": "^7.2.3",
     "@types/fs-extra": "^9.0.1",
     "@types/inquirer": "^7.3.1",
+    "@types/json5": "0.0.30",
     "@types/mocha": "^8.0.3",
     "@types/ncp": "^2.0.4",
     "@types/node": "^14.11.2",
diff --git a/src/util.ts b/src/util.ts
index b86a6232..a377c9ff 100644
--- a/src/util.ts
+++ b/src/util.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import * as rimraf from 'rimraf';
 import {promisify} from 'util';
 import * as ncp from 'ncp';
 import * as writeFileAtomic from 'write-file-atomic';
+import * as JSON5 from 'json5';
 
 export const readFilep = promisify(fs.readFile);
 export const rimrafp = promisify(rimraf);
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ export interface DefaultPackage extends Bag<string> {
 
 export async function readJsonp(jsonPath: string) {
   const contents = await readFilep(jsonPath, {encoding: 'utf8'});
-  return JSON.parse(contents);
+  return JSON5.parse(contents);
 }
 
 export interface ReadFileP {
@@ -76,7 +77,14 @@ async function getBase(
   readFiles.add(filePath);
   try {
     const json = await customReadFilep(filePath, 'utf8');
-    let contents = JSON.parse(json);
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+    let contents: any;
+    try {
+      contents = JSON5.parse(json);
+    } catch (e) {
+      e.message = `Unable to parse ${filePath}!\n${e.message}`;
+      throw e;
+    }
 
     if (contents.extends) {
       const nextFile = await getBase(
@@ -85,7 +93,6 @@ async function getBase(
         readFiles,
         path.dirname(filePath)
       );
-      // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-use-before-define
       contents = combineTSConfig(nextFile, contents);
     }
 
diff --git a/test/test-clean.ts b/test/test-clean.ts
index 2bdf2f88..276c5eee 100644
--- a/test/test-clean.ts
+++ b/test/test-clean.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,24 @@ describe('clean', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it('should gracefully handle JSON with comments', () => {
+    const invalidJson = `
+    {
+      // hah, comments in JSON, what a world
+      compilerOptions: {outDir: '.'}
+    }`;
+    return withFixtures({'tsconfig.json': invalidJson}, async () => {
+      await clean(OPTIONS);
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('should gracefully error if tsconfig has invalid JSON', () => {
+    const invalidJson = "silly bear, this isn't JSON!";
+    return withFixtures({'tsconfig.json': invalidJson}, async () => {
+      assert.rejects(clean(OPTIONS), /Unable to parse/);
+    });
+  });
+
   it('should avoid deleting .', () => {
     return withFixtures(
       {'tsconfig.json': JSON.stringify({compilerOptions: {outDir: '.'}})},