diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 5d3014c..d4b205d 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@
 #include <thread>
 #include <vector>
 
+constexpr int EXIT_FATAL{2};
+
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
     using namespace epubgrep;
@@ -77,7 +79,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     { // Exceptions we can't recover from or ones we don't know.
         LOG(log::sev::fatal)
             << e.what() << translate(" (while parsing options)");
-        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+        return EXIT_FATAL;
     }
 
     if (opts.debug)
@@ -175,6 +177,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
                                   filepath);
                     return EXIT_FAILURE;
                 }
+                catch (const boost::regex_error &e)
+                {
+                    LOG(log::sev::fatal) << e.what();
+                    return EXIT_FATAL;
+                }
             }
 
             return EXIT_SUCCESS;
@@ -219,6 +226,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
             DEBUGLOG << "Attempting to clean up threads";
             futures_cleanup();
         }
+        if (return_code == EXIT_FATAL)
+        {
+            break;
+        }
         futurepool.emplace_back(
             std::async(std::launch::async, search_file, filepath));
         DEBUGLOG << "Launched new thread";
@@ -233,6 +244,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     }
     DEBUGLOG << "Waiting for remaining threads to finish";
     futures_cleanup(true);
+    if (return_code == EXIT_FATAL)
+    {
+        return EXIT_FATAL;
+    }
 
     if (opts.json)
     {