diff --git a/src/milquetoast/client.clj b/src/milquetoast/client.clj
index 0dc3261..e87e9f4 100644
--- a/src/milquetoast/client.clj
+++ b/src/milquetoast/client.clj
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 (ns milquetoast.client
-  (:require [clojure.core.async :as async :refer [go go-loop <! >!]]
+  (:require [clojure.core.async :as async :refer [go go-loop <! >! alts!!]]
             [clojure.data.json :as json])
   (:import [org.eclipse.paho.client.mqttv3 MqttClient MqttConnectOptions MqttMessage IMqttMessageListener]
-           org.eclipse.paho.client.mqttv3.persist.MemoryPersistence))
+           org.eclipse.paho.client.mqttv3.persist.MemoryPersistence
+           java.time.Instant))
 
 (defn- create-mqtt-client! [broker-uri username password]
   (let [client-id (MqttClient/generateClientId)
@@ -35,7 +36,8 @@
   (send-message!    [_ topic msg opts])
   (add-channel!     [_ chan])
   (stop!            [_])
-  (subscribe-topic! [_ topic opts]))
+  (subscribe-topic! [_ topic opts])
+  (get-topic!       [_ topic opts]))
 
 (defrecord MilquetoastClient [client open-channels verbose]
   IMilquetoastClient
@@ -51,15 +53,28 @@
   (add-channel! [_ chan]
     (swap! open-channels conj chan))
   (subscribe-topic! [self topic opts]
-    (let [{:keys [buffer-size]} opts
+    (let [{:keys [buffer-size qos]
+           :or   {buffer-size 1 qos 0}} opts
           chan (async/chan buffer-size)]
       (add-channel! self chan)
-      (.subscribe client topic
+      (.subscribe client topic qos
                   (proxy [IMqttMessageListener] []
                     (messageArrived [topic mqtt-message]
                       (go (>! chan (assoc (parse-message mqtt-message)
                                           :topic topic))))))
-      chan)))
+      chan))
+  (get-topic! [_ topic opts]
+    (let [{:keys [qos timeout] :or {qos 0 timeout 5}} opts
+          result-chan (async/chan)]
+      (.subscribe client topic qos
+                  (proxy [IMqttMessageListener] []
+                    (messageArrived [topic mqtt-message]
+                      (go (>! result-chan (assoc (parse-message mqtt-message)
+                                                 :topic topic))
+                          (async/close! result-chan))
+                      (.unsubscribe client topic))))
+      (first (alts!! [result-chan
+                      (async/timeout (* timeout 1000))])))))
 
 (defn- parallelism []
   (-> (Runtime/getRuntime)
@@ -71,6 +86,11 @@
     (async/pipeline (parallelism) out xf in)
     out))
 
+(defn- json-parse-message [msg]
+  (-> msg
+      (update :payload   #(json/read-str % :key-fn keyword))
+      (assoc  :timestamp (Instant/now))))
+
 (defrecord MilquetoastJsonClient [client]
   IMilquetoastClient
   (send-message! [_ topic msg opts]
@@ -79,7 +99,11 @@
   (add-channel! [_ chan] (add-channel! client chan))
   (subscribe-topic! [_ topic opts]
     (pipe (subscribe-topic! client topic opts)
-          (map (fn [msg] (update msg :payload json/read-str))))))
+          (map json-parse-message)))
+  (get-topic! [_ topic opts]
+    (if-let [msg (get-topic! client topic opts)]
+      (json-parse-message msg)
+      nil)))
 
 (defn send! [client topic msg & {:keys [qos retain]
                                  :or   {qos 1 retain false}}]
@@ -98,9 +122,10 @@
         (recur (<! chan))))
     chan))
 
-(defn subscribe! [client topic & {:keys [buffer-size]
-                                  :or   {buffer-size 1}}]
-  (subscribe-topic! client topic {:buffer-size buffer-size}))
+(defn subscribe! [client topic & {:keys [buffer-size qos]
+                                  :or   {buffer-size 1
+                                         qos         1}}]
+  (subscribe-topic! client topic {:buffer-size buffer-size :qos qos}))
 
 (defn connect! [& {:keys [host port scheme username password verbose]
                    :or   {verbose false