diff --git a/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_manager.rs b/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_manager.rs
index ea237df..90f0e0d 100644
--- a/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_manager.rs
+++ b/crates/librqbit/src/torrent_manager.rs
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ struct LivePeerState {
 struct PeerStates {
     states: HashMap<PeerHandle, PeerState>,
     seen_peers: HashSet<SocketAddr>,
-    requested_pieces: HashSet<ValidPieceIndex>,
+    inflight_pieces: HashSet<ValidPieceIndex>,
     tx: HashMap<PeerHandle, Arc<tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<MessageOwned>>>,
 }
 
@@ -800,7 +800,7 @@ impl TorrentManager {
             .locked
             .read()
             .peers
-            .requested_pieces
+            .inflight_pieces
             .iter()
             .choose(&mut rng)
             .copied()
@@ -926,7 +926,7 @@ impl TorrentManager {
             .get_live_mut(peer_handle)?
             .requested_pieces
             .insert(n);
-        g.peers.requested_pieces.insert(n);
+        g.peers.inflight_pieces.insert(n);
         g.chunks.reserve_needed_piece(n);
         Some(n)
     }
@@ -1075,21 +1075,27 @@ impl TorrentManager {
         Ok(())
     }
 
-    fn on_received_piece(&self, handle: PeerHandle, piece: Piece<ByteString>) -> Option<()> {
+    fn on_received_piece(
+        &self,
+        handle: PeerHandle,
+        piece: Piece<ByteString>,
+    ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         let chunk_info = match self.inner.lengths.chunk_info_from_received_piece(&piece) {
             Some(i) => i,
             None => {
-                warn!(
-                    "peer {} sent us a piece that is invalid {:?}, dropping",
-                    handle, &piece,
+                anyhow::bail!(
+                    "peer {} sent us a piece that is invalid {:?}",
+                    handle,
+                    &piece,
                 );
-                self.drop_peer(handle);
-                return None;
             }
         };
 
         let mut g = self.inner.locked.write();
-        let h = g.peers.get_live_mut(handle)?;
+        let h = match g.peers.get_live_mut(handle) {
+            Some(l) => l,
+            None => anyhow::bail!("peer is not live anymore"),
+        };
         h.outstanding_requests.add_permits(1);
 
         self.inner
@@ -1097,18 +1103,38 @@ impl TorrentManager {
             .fetch_add(piece.block.len() as u64, Ordering::Relaxed);
 
         if !h.requested_pieces.contains(&chunk_info.piece_index) {
-            // TODO: this is wrong, we need to distinguish between these cases.
-            warn!(
-                "peer {} sent us a piece that we did not ask for, dropping it. Requested pieces: {:?}. Got: {:?}", handle, &h.requested_pieces, &piece,
+            anyhow::bail!(
+                "peer {} sent us a piece that we did not ask it for. Requested pieces: {:?}. Got: {:?}", handle, &h.requested_pieces, &piece,
             );
-
-            // this prevents a deadlock.
-            drop(g);
-
-            self.drop_peer(handle);
-            return None;
         }
 
+        match g.chunks.mark_chunk_downloaded(&piece) {
+            Some(ChunkMarkingResult::Completed) => {
+                debug!(
+                    "piece={} done by {}, will write and checksum",
+                    piece.index, handle
+                );
+                // This will prevent others from stealing it.
+                g.peers.inflight_pieces.remove(&chunk_info.piece_index);
+            }
+            Some(ChunkMarkingResult::PreviouslyCompleted) => {
+                // TODO: we might need to send cancellations here.
+                debug!(
+                    "piece={} was done by someone else {}, ignoring",
+                    piece.index, handle
+                );
+                return Ok(());
+            }
+            Some(ChunkMarkingResult::NotCompleted) => return Ok(()),
+            None => {
+                anyhow::bail!(
+                    "bogus data received from {}: {:?}, cannot map this to a chunk, dropping peer",
+                    handle,
+                    piece
+                );
+            }
+        };
+
         let this = self.clone();
 
         spawn_blocking(
@@ -1118,45 +1144,11 @@ impl TorrentManager {
             ),
             move || {
                 let index = piece.index;
+
+                // TODO: in theory we should unmark the piece as downloaded here. But if there was a disk error, what
+                // should we really do? If we unmark it, it will get requested forever...
                 this.write_chunk_blocking(handle, &piece, &chunk_info)?;
 
-                match this
-                    .inner
-                    .locked
-                    .write()
-                    .chunks
-                    .mark_chunk_downloaded(&piece)
-                {
-                    Some(ChunkMarkingResult::Completed) => {
-                        debug!("piece={} done by {}, will checksum", piece.index, handle);
-                    }
-                    Some(ChunkMarkingResult::PreviouslyCompleted) => {
-                        debug!(
-                            "piece={} was done by someone else {}, ignoring",
-                            piece.index, handle
-                        );
-                        return Ok(());
-                    }
-                    Some(ChunkMarkingResult::NotCompleted) => return Ok(()),
-                    None => {
-                        warn!(
-                            "bogus data received from {}: {:?}, cannot map this to a chunk, dropping peer",
-                            handle, piece
-                        );
-                        this.drop_peer(handle);
-                        return Ok(());
-                    }
-                };
-
-                // Ignore responses about this piece from now on.
-                {
-                    let mut g = this.inner.locked.write();
-                    g.peers
-                        .get_live_mut(handle)
-                        .map(|l| l.requested_pieces.remove(&chunk_info.piece_index));
-                    g.peers.requested_pieces.remove(&chunk_info.piece_index);
-                }
-
                 let clone = this.clone();
                 match clone
                     .check_piece_blocking(handle, chunk_info.piece_index, &chunk_info)
@@ -1194,13 +1186,12 @@ impl TorrentManager {
                             .write()
                             .chunks
                             .mark_piece_needed(chunk_info.piece_index);
-                        // this.drop_peer(handle);
                     }
                 };
                 Ok::<_, anyhow::Error>(())
             },
         );
-        Some(())
+        Ok(())
     }
     fn into_handle(self) -> TorrentManagerHandle {
         TorrentManagerHandle { manager: self }
@@ -1442,7 +1433,8 @@ impl TorrentManager {
                         )
                     }
                     Message::Piece(piece) => {
-                        self.on_received_piece(handle, piece);
+                        self.on_received_piece(handle, piece)
+                            .context("error in on_received_piece()")?;
                     }
                     Message::KeepAlive => {
                         debug!("keepalive received from {}", handle);