diff --git a/acid-state.cabal b/acid-state.cabal
--- a/acid-state.cabal
+++ b/acid-state.cabal
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 -- The package version. See the Haskell package versioning policy
 -- (http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Package_versioning_policy) for
 -- standards guiding when and how versions should be incremented.
-Version:             0.8.2
+Version:             0.8.3
 
 -- A short (one-line) description of the package.
 Synopsis:            Add ACID guarantees to any serializable Haskell data structure.
diff --git a/src/Data/Acid/Local.hs b/src/Data/Acid/Local.hs
--- a/src/Data/Acid/Local.hs
+++ b/src/Data/Acid/Local.hs
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import Data.Acid.Abstract
 
 import Control.Concurrent             ( newEmptyMVar, putMVar, takeMVar, MVar )
+import Control.Exception              ( onException )
 import Control.Monad.State            ( runState )
 import Control.Monad                  ( join )
 import Control.Applicative            ( (<$>), (<*>) )
@@ -231,7 +232,7 @@
         replayEvents lock n st
     False -> do
       lock    <- obtainPrefixLock lockFile
-      (n, st) <- loadCheckpoint
+      (n, st) <- loadCheckpoint `onException` releasePrefixLock lock
       return $ do
         replayEvents lock n st
   where