diff --git a/src/milquetoast/client.clj b/src/milquetoast/client.clj
index 858a2f7..3e46683 100644
--- a/src/milquetoast/client.clj
+++ b/src/milquetoast/client.clj
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@
   (add-channel!     [_ chan])
   (stop!            [_])
   (subscribe-topic! [_ topic opts])
-  (get-topic!       [_ topic opts]))
+  (get-topic!       [_ topic opts])
+  (get-topic-raw!   [_ topic opts]))
 
 (defrecord MilquetoastClient [client open-channels verbose]
   IMilquetoastClient
@@ -101,7 +102,8 @@
                                       (.unsubscribe client topic))))
                      #(.reconnect client))
       (first (alts!! [result-chan
-                      (async/timeout (* timeout 1000))])))))
+                      (async/timeout (* timeout 1000))]))))
+  (get-topic-raw! [c topic opts] (get-topic! c topic opts)))
 
 (defn- parallelism []
   (-> (Runtime/getRuntime)
@@ -131,6 +133,10 @@
   (get-topic! [_ topic opts]
     (if-let [msg (get-topic! client topic opts)]
       (json-parse-message msg)
+      nil))
+  (get-topic-raw! [_ topic opts]
+    (if-let [msg (get-topic! client topic opts)]
+      msg
       nil)))
 
 (defn send! [client topic msg & {:keys [qos retain]
@@ -140,6 +146,9 @@
 (defn get! [client topic & options]
   (get-topic! client topic options))
 
+(defn get-raw! [client topic & options]
+  (get-topic-raw! client topic options))
+
 (defn open-channel!
   [client topic & {:keys [buffer-size qos retain]
                    :or   {buffer-size 1