diff --git a/elastic4s-core/src/main/scala/com/sksamuel/elastic4s/requests/searches/SearchHandlers.scala b/elastic4s-core/src/main/scala/com/sksamuel/elastic4s/requests/searches/SearchHandlers.scala
index 52636bd8c..1121c8777 100644
--- a/elastic4s-core/src/main/scala/com/sksamuel/elastic4s/requests/searches/SearchHandlers.scala
+++ b/elastic4s-core/src/main/scala/com/sksamuel/elastic4s/requests/searches/SearchHandlers.scala
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.sksamuel.elastic4s.requests.searches
 
+import com.sksamuel.elastic4s.handlers.ElasticErrorParser
 import com.sksamuel.elastic4s.json.XContentBuilder
 import com.sksamuel.elastic4s.requests.common.IndicesOptionsParams
 import com.sksamuel.elastic4s.requests.searches.aggs.AbstractAggregation
@@ -7,31 +8,34 @@ import com.sksamuel.elastic4s.{ElasticError, ElasticRequest, ElasticUrlEncoder,
 
 trait SearchHandlers {
 
-  class BaseMultiSearchHandler(customAggregationHandler: PartialFunction[AbstractAggregation, XContentBuilder])  extends Handler[MultiSearchRequest, MultiSearchResponse] {
+  class BaseMultiSearchHandler(customAggregationHandler: PartialFunction[AbstractAggregation, XContentBuilder]) extends Handler[MultiSearchRequest, MultiSearchResponse] {
 
     import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
 
     override def responseHandler: ResponseHandler[MultiSearchResponse] = new ResponseHandler[MultiSearchResponse] {
-      override def handle(response: HttpResponse): Right[Nothing, MultiSearchResponse] = {
-        val json = JacksonSupport.mapper.readTree(response.entity.get.content)
-        val items = Option(json.get("responses")) match {
-          case Some(node) =>
-            node.elements
-              .asScala
-              .zipWithIndex
-              .map {
-                case (element, index) =>
-                  val status = element.get("status").intValue()
-                  val either =
-                    if (element.has("error"))
-                      Left(JacksonSupport.mapper.treeToValue[ElasticError](element.get("error")))
-                    else
-                      Right(JacksonSupport.mapper.treeToValue[SearchResponse](element))
-                  MultisearchResponseItem(index, status, either)
-              }.toSeq
-          case None => Nil
-        }
-        Right(MultiSearchResponse(items))
+      override def handle(response: HttpResponse): Either[ElasticError, MultiSearchResponse] = response.statusCode match {
+        case status if status >= 200 && status < 300 =>
+          val json = JacksonSupport.mapper.readTree(response.entity.get.content)
+          val items = Option(json.get("responses")) match {
+            case Some(node) =>
+              node.elements
+                .asScala
+                .zipWithIndex
+                .map {
+                  case (element, index) =>
+                    val status = element.get("status").intValue()
+                    val either =
+                      if (element.has("error"))
+                        Left(JacksonSupport.mapper.treeToValue[ElasticError](element.get("error")))
+                      else
+                        Right(JacksonSupport.mapper.treeToValue[SearchResponse](element))
+                    MultisearchResponseItem(index, status, either)
+                }.toSeq
+            case None => Nil
+          }
+          Right(MultiSearchResponse(items))
+        case _ =>
+          Left(ElasticErrorParser.parse(response))
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/elastic4s-core/src/test/scala/com/sksamuel/elastic4s/requests/searches/MultiSearchHandlerTest.scala b/elastic4s-core/src/test/scala/com/sksamuel/elastic4s/requests/searches/MultiSearchHandlerTest.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..18f2b02f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elastic4s-core/src/test/scala/com/sksamuel/elastic4s/requests/searches/MultiSearchHandlerTest.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+package com.sksamuel.elastic4s.requests.searches
+
+import com.sksamuel.elastic4s.HttpEntity.StringEntity
+import com.sksamuel.elastic4s.requests.searches.SearchHandlers.MultiSearchHandler
+import com.sksamuel.elastic4s.{ElasticError, HttpResponse}
+import org.scalatest.EitherValues
+import org.scalatest.flatspec.AnyFlatSpec
+import org.scalatest.matchers.should.Matchers
+
+class MultiSearchHandlerTest extends AnyFlatSpec with Matchers with EitherValues {
+
+  it should "handle error responses properly" in {
+    val responseBody = """{"error":{"type":"some_error_type","reason":"some_error_reason","root_cause":[]},"status":400}"""
+    val response = HttpResponse(400, Some(StringEntity(responseBody, None)), Map.empty)
+
+    MultiSearchHandler.responseHandler.handle(response).left.value shouldBe ElasticError("some_error_type", "some_error_reason", None, None, None, Seq.empty, None)
+  }
+
+  it should "handle successful responses properly" in {
+    val responseBody =
+      """{
+        |    "took": 1,
+        |    "responses": [
+        |        {
+        |            "took": 1,
+        |            "timed_out": false,
+        |            "_shards": {
+        |                "total": 1,
+        |                "successful": 1,
+        |                "skipped": 0,
+        |                "failed": 0
+        |            },
+        |            "hits": {
+        |                "total": {
+        |                    "value": 0,
+        |                    "relation": "eq"
+        |                },
+        |                "max_score": null,
+        |                "hits": []
+        |            },
+        |            "status": 200
+        |        },
+        |        {
+        |            "error": {
+        |                "type": "some_error_type",
+        |                "reason": "some_error_reason",
+        |                "root_cause": []
+        |            },
+        |            "status": 400
+        |        }
+        |    ]
+        |}""".stripMargin
+    val response = HttpResponse(200, Some(StringEntity(responseBody, None)), Map.empty)
+    val mResponse = MultiSearchHandler.responseHandler.handle(response).right.value
+    mResponse.items should have size 2
+    mResponse.items.map(_.status) shouldEqual Seq(200, 400)
+  }
+}