diff --git a/src/core.ts b/src/core.ts
index cc36b631..3df828db 100644
--- a/src/core.ts
+++ b/src/core.ts
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ export abstract class APIClient {
         return this.retryRequest(options, retriesRemaining, responseHeaders);
       }
 
-      const errText = await response.text().catch(() => 'Unknown');
+      const errText = await response.text().catch((e) => castToError(e).message);
       const errJSON = safeJSON(errText);
       const errMessage = errJSON ? undefined : errText;
 
diff --git a/src/error.ts b/src/error.ts
index 7cc10ab4..d9b00ceb 100644
--- a/src/error.ts
+++ b/src/error.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ export class APIError extends Error {
     message: string | undefined,
     headers: Headers | undefined,
   ) {
-    super(APIError.makeMessage(error, message));
+    super(`${status} ${APIError.makeMessage(error, message)}`);
     this.status = status;
     this.headers = headers;
     this.error = error;
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export class APIError extends Error {
         typeof error.message === 'string' ? error.message
         : JSON.stringify(error.message)
       : error ? JSON.stringify(error)
-      : message || 'Unknown error occurred'
+      : message || 'status code (no body)'
     );
   }