diff --git a/src/jsontextedit.cpp b/src/jsontextedit.cpp
index c7e2245a..80686b0f 100644
--- a/src/jsontextedit.cpp
+++ b/src/jsontextedit.cpp
@@ -124,7 +124,24 @@ void JsonTextEdit::reloadSettings()
     setupSyntaxHighlightingFormat("table", QsciLexerJSON::Number);
     setupSyntaxHighlightingFormat("identifier", QsciLexerJSON::Property);
     jsonLexer->setHighlightComments(true);
-    
+
+    // The default style for invalid JSON or unclosed strings uses red
+    // background and white foreground, but the current line has
+    // precedence, so it is by default white over gray. We change the
+    // default to something more readable for the current line at
+    // invalid JSON.
+    QColor stringColor = QColor(Settings::getValue("syntaxhighlighter", "string_colour").toString());
+    jsonLexer->setColor(stringColor, QsciLexerJSON::Error);
+    jsonLexer->setColor(stringColor, QsciLexerJSON::UnclosedString);
+    QFont errorFont(Settings::getValue("editor", "font").toString());
+    errorFont.setPointSize(Settings::getValue("editor", "fontsize").toInt());
+    errorFont.setItalic(true);
+    errorFont.setUnderline(true);
+    jsonLexer->setFont(errorFont, QsciLexerJSON::Error);
+    jsonLexer->setFont(errorFont, QsciLexerJSON::UnclosedString);
+    jsonLexer->setPaper(jsonLexer->defaultPaper(QsciLexerJSON::String), QsciLexerJSON::Error);
+    jsonLexer->setPaper(jsonLexer->defaultPaper(QsciLexerJSON::String), QsciLexerJSON::UnclosedString);
+
     // Set font
     QFont font(Settings::getValue("editor", "font").toString());
     font.setStyleHint(QFont::TypeWriter);