diff --git a/lib/instrumentation/index.js b/lib/instrumentation/index.js
index 18e2d92a6ea..b7eb3577984 100644
--- a/lib/instrumentation/index.js
+++ b/lib/instrumentation/index.js
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ Instrumentation.prototype._startHook = function () {
     if (!isHandlingLambda && basedir) {
       pkg = path.join(basedir, 'package.json')
       try {
-        version = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(pkg)).version
+        version = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(pkg, 'utf8')).version
       } catch (e) {
         self._agent.logger.debug('could not shim %s module: %s', name, e.message)
         return exports