diff --git a/Octokit.Tests.Integration/HttpClientAdapterTests.cs b/Octokit.Tests.Integration/HttpClientAdapterTests.cs
index ead3b4f1..d721c752 100644
--- a/Octokit.Tests.Integration/HttpClientAdapterTests.cs
+++ b/Octokit.Tests.Integration/HttpClientAdapterTests.cs
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ public class HttpClientAdapterTests
             var response = await httpClient.Send(request, CancellationToken.None);
 
             // Spot check some of dem bytes.
-            var imageBytes = (byte[])response.BodyAsObject;
+            var imageBytes = (byte[])response.Body;
             Assert.Equal(137, imageBytes[0]);
             Assert.Equal(80, imageBytes[1]);
             Assert.Equal(78, imageBytes[2]);
diff --git a/Octokit.Tests/Clients/BlobClientTests.cs b/Octokit.Tests/Clients/BlobClientTests.cs
index 3e293ecf..a92bb08f 100644
--- a/Octokit.Tests/Clients/BlobClientTests.cs
+++ b/Octokit.Tests/Clients/BlobClientTests.cs
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Clients
             var response = jsonPipeline.DeserializeResponse<Blob>(httpResponse);
 
             Assert.NotNull(response.Body);
-            Assert.Equal(blobResponseJson, response.HttpResponse.Body);
+            Assert.Equal(blobResponseJson, (string)response.HttpResponse.Body);
             Assert.Equal(100, response.Body.Size);
             Assert.Equal(EncodingType.Utf8, response.Body.Encoding);
         }
diff --git a/Octokit.Tests/Helpers/AssertEx.cs b/Octokit.Tests/Helpers/AssertEx.cs
index e8a062d3..5796f7c5 100644
--- a/Octokit.Tests/Helpers/AssertEx.cs
+++ b/Octokit.Tests/Helpers/AssertEx.cs
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
-using System.Linq;
 using System.Reflection;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Xunit;
-using Xunit.Sdk;
 
 namespace Octokit.Tests.Helpers
 {
@@ -47,7 +45,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Helpers
             }
         }
 
-        public static void IsReadOnlyCollection<T>(object instance) where T : class
+        public static void IsReadOnlyCollection<T>(object instance)
         {
             var collection = instance as ICollection<T>;
             // The collection == null case is for .NET 4.0
diff --git a/Octokit.Tests/Http/ApiConnectionTests.cs b/Octokit.Tests/Http/ApiConnectionTests.cs
index d4a571a9..4b26c27e 100644
--- a/Octokit.Tests/Http/ApiConnectionTests.cs
+++ b/Octokit.Tests/Http/ApiConnectionTests.cs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Http
             public async Task MakesGetRequestForItem()
             {
                 var getUri = new Uri("anything", UriKind.Relative);
-                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { BodyAsObject = new object() });
+                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { Body = new object() });
                 var connection = Substitute.For<IConnection>();
                 connection.Get<object>(Args.Uri, null, null).Returns(Task.FromResult(response));
                 var apiConnection = new ApiConnection(connection);
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Http
             {
                 var getUri = new Uri("anything", UriKind.Relative);
                 const string accepts = "custom/accepts";
-                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { BodyAsObject = new object() });
+                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { Body = new object() });
                 var connection = Substitute.For<IConnection>();
                 connection.Get<object>(Args.Uri, null, Args.String).Returns(Task.FromResult(response));
                 var apiConnection = new ApiConnection(connection);
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Http
                 var patchUri = new Uri("anything", UriKind.Relative);
                 var sentData = new object();
                 var accepts = "custom/accepts";
-                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { BodyAsObject = new object() });
+                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { Body = new object() });
                 var connection = Substitute.For<IConnection>();
                 connection.Patch<object>(Args.Uri, Args.Object, Args.String).Returns(Task.FromResult(response));
                 var apiConnection = new ApiConnection(connection);
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Http
             {
                 var putUri = new Uri("anything", UriKind.Relative);
                 var sentData = new object();
-                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { BodyAsObject = new object() });
+                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { Body = new object() });
                 var connection = Substitute.For<IConnection>();
                 connection.Put<object>(Args.Uri, Args.Object).Returns(Task.FromResult(response));
                 var apiConnection = new ApiConnection(connection);
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Http
             {
                 var putUri = new Uri("anything", UriKind.Relative);
                 var sentData = new object();
-                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { BodyAsObject = new object() });
+                IApiResponse<object> response = new ApiResponse<object>(new Response { Body = new object() });
                 var connection = Substitute.For<IConnection>();
                 connection.Put<object>(Args.Uri, Args.Object, "two-factor").Returns(Task.FromResult(response));
                 var apiConnection = new ApiConnection(connection);
diff --git a/Octokit.Tests/Http/HttpClientAdapterTests.cs b/Octokit.Tests/Http/HttpClientAdapterTests.cs
index 5dec9fea..e1c76c48 100644
--- a/Octokit.Tests/Http/HttpClientAdapterTests.cs
+++ b/Octokit.Tests/Http/HttpClientAdapterTests.cs
@@ -146,8 +146,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Http
 
                 var response = await tester.BuildResponseTester(responseMessage);
 
-                Assert.Equal(new byte[] { 0, 1, 1, 0, 1 }, response.BodyAsObject);
-                Assert.Null(response.Body);
+                Assert.Equal(new byte[] { 0, 1, 1, 0, 1 }, response.Body);
                 Assert.Equal("image/png", response.ContentType);
             }
 
diff --git a/Octokit.Tests/Http/JsonHttpPipelineTests.cs b/Octokit.Tests/Http/JsonHttpPipelineTests.cs
index 933bd61b..48f407d9 100644
--- a/Octokit.Tests/Http/JsonHttpPipelineTests.cs
+++ b/Octokit.Tests/Http/JsonHttpPipelineTests.cs
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Http
             }
 
             [Fact]
-            public void IgnoresResponsesNotIdentifiedAsJson()
+            public void IgnoresResponsesNotIdentifiedAsJsonWhenNotDeserializingToString()
             {
                 const string data = "works";
                 var httpResponse = new Response
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Http
                 };
                 var jsonPipeline = new JsonHttpPipeline();
 
-                var response = jsonPipeline.DeserializeResponse<string>(httpResponse);
+                var response = jsonPipeline.DeserializeResponse<Commit>(httpResponse);
 
                 Assert.Null(response.Body);
             }
@@ -139,12 +139,12 @@ namespace Octokit.Tests.Http
             public void DeserializesSingleObjectResponseIntoCollectionWithOneItem()
             {
                 const string data = "{\"name\":\"Haack\"}";
+                var jsonPipeline = new JsonHttpPipeline();
                 var httpResponse = new Response
                 {
                     Body = data,
                     ContentType = "application/json"
                 };
-                var jsonPipeline = new JsonHttpPipeline();
 
                 var response = jsonPipeline.DeserializeResponse<List<SomeObject>>(httpResponse);
 
diff --git a/Octokit/Exceptions/ApiException.cs b/Octokit/Exceptions/ApiException.cs
index 7185f63c..97c7a809 100644
--- a/Octokit/Exceptions/ApiException.cs
+++ b/Octokit/Exceptions/ApiException.cs
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ namespace Octokit
 
         static ApiError GetApiErrorFromExceptionMessage(IResponse response)
         {
-            string responseBody = response != null ? response.Body : null;
+            string responseBody = response != null ? response.Body as string : null;
             return GetApiErrorFromExceptionMessage(responseBody);
         }
 
diff --git a/Octokit/Http/ApiResponse.cs b/Octokit/Http/ApiResponse.cs
index 17d2c904..a83ba12b 100644
--- a/Octokit/Http/ApiResponse.cs
+++ b/Octokit/Http/ApiResponse.cs
@@ -11,21 +11,22 @@ namespace Octokit.Internal
             Headers = new Dictionary<string, string>();
         }
 
-        public ApiResponse(IResponse response)
+        public ApiResponse(IResponse response) : this(response, GetBodyAsObject(response))
+        {
+        }
+
+        public ApiResponse(IResponse response, T bodyAsObject)
         {
             Ensure.ArgumentNotNull(response, "response");
 
+            var body = response.Body is T ? (T)response.Body : default(T);
             HttpResponse = response;
             Headers = response.Headers;
-            Body = (T)response.BodyAsObject;
+            Body = body;
             ResponseUri = response.ResponseUri;
             ApiInfo = response.ApiInfo;
             StatusCode = response.StatusCode;
             ContentType = response.ContentType;
-        }
-
-        public ApiResponse(IResponse response, T bodyAsObject) : this(response)
-        {
             Body = bodyAsObject;
         }
 
@@ -36,5 +37,12 @@ namespace Octokit.Internal
         public HttpStatusCode StatusCode { get; set; }
         public IResponse HttpResponse { get; private set; }
         public string ContentType { get; set; }
+
+        static T GetBodyAsObject(IResponse response)
+        {
+            if (response == null) return default(T);
+            var body = response.Body;
+            return body is T ? (T)body : default(T);
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/Octokit/Http/Connection.cs b/Octokit/Http/Connection.cs
index 4bbe226d..b953c446 100644
--- a/Octokit/Http/Connection.cs
+++ b/Octokit/Http/Connection.cs
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ namespace Octokit
         {
             request.Headers.Add("Accept", "application/vnd.github.html");
             var response = await RunRequest(request, CancellationToken.None);
-            return new ApiResponse<string>(response, response.Body);
+            return new ApiResponse<string>(response, response.Body as string);
         }
 
         async Task<IApiResponse<T>> Run<T>(IRequest request, CancellationToken	cancellationToken)
@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@ namespace Octokit
 
         static Exception GetExceptionForForbidden(IResponse response)
         {
-            string body = response.Body ?? "";
+            string body = response.Body as string ?? "";
             return body.Contains("rate limit exceeded")
                 ? new RateLimitExceededException(response)
                 : body.Contains("number of login attempts exceeded")
diff --git a/Octokit/Http/HttpClientAdapter.cs b/Octokit/Http/HttpClientAdapter.cs
index 65aa3df9..0ea7f2da 100644
--- a/Octokit/Http/HttpClientAdapter.cs
+++ b/Octokit/Http/HttpClientAdapter.cs
@@ -68,8 +68,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Internal
         {
             Ensure.ArgumentNotNull(responseMessage, "responseMessage");
 
-            string responseBody = null;
-            object bodyAsObject = null;
+            object responseBody = null;
             string contentType = null;
             using (var content = responseMessage.Content)
             {
@@ -84,7 +83,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Internal
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        bodyAsObject = await responseMessage.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
+                        responseBody = await responseMessage.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -92,7 +91,6 @@ namespace Octokit.Internal
             var response = new Response
             {
                 Body = responseBody,
-                BodyAsObject = bodyAsObject,
                 StatusCode = responseMessage.StatusCode,
                 ContentType = contentType
             };
diff --git a/Octokit/Http/IResponse.cs b/Octokit/Http/IResponse.cs
index 5bba5564..c2e65f72 100644
--- a/Octokit/Http/IResponse.cs
+++ b/Octokit/Http/IResponse.cs
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@ namespace Octokit
 
     public interface IResponse
     {
-        object BodyAsObject { get; set; }
-        string Body { get; set; }
+        object Body { get; }
         Dictionary<string, string> Headers { get; }
         Uri ResponseUri { get; set; }
         ApiInfo ApiInfo { get; set; }
diff --git a/Octokit/Http/JsonHttpPipeline.cs b/Octokit/Http/JsonHttpPipeline.cs
index 735d742f..09e059ba 100644
--- a/Octokit/Http/JsonHttpPipeline.cs
+++ b/Octokit/Http/JsonHttpPipeline.cs
@@ -45,9 +45,9 @@ namespace Octokit.Internal
 
             if (response.ContentType != null && response.ContentType.Equals("application/json", StringComparison.Ordinal))
             {
-                var body = response.Body;
+                var body = response.Body as string;
                 // simple json does not support the root node being empty. Will submit a pr but in the mean time....
-                if (body != "{}")
+                if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(body) && body != "{}")
                 {
                     var typeIsDictionary = typeof(IDictionary).IsAssignableFrom(typeof(T));
                     var typeIsEnumerable = typeof(IEnumerable).IsAssignableFrom(typeof(T));
diff --git a/Octokit/Http/Response.cs b/Octokit/Http/Response.cs
index b9221be5..397b13fe 100644
--- a/Octokit/Http/Response.cs
+++ b/Octokit/Http/Response.cs
@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@ namespace Octokit.Internal
             Headers = new Dictionary<string, string>();
         }
 
-        public object BodyAsObject { get; set; }
-        public string Body { get; set; }
+        public object Body { get; set; }
         public Dictionary<string, string> Headers { get; private set; }
         public Uri ResponseUri { get; set; }
         public ApiInfo ApiInfo { get; set; }