diff --git a/lib/unpack.js b/lib/unpack.js
index 32950159..cf10d073 100644
--- a/lib/unpack.js
+++ b/lib/unpack.js
@@ -220,6 +220,8 @@ class Unpack extends Parser {
         const linkparts = normPath(entry.linkpath).split('/')
         if (linkparts.length >= this.strip)
           entry.linkpath = linkparts.slice(this.strip).join('/')
+        else
+          return false
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/test/unpack.js b/test/unpack.js
index e60915b9..3ebbb233 100644
--- a/test/unpack.js
+++ b/test/unpack.js
@@ -189,16 +189,8 @@ t.test('links!', t => {
     t.end()
   }
   const checkForStrip3 = t => {
-    t.ok(fs.lstatSync(dir + '/3').isDirectory())
-    let err = null
-    try {
-      fs.lstatSync(dir + '/3/hardlink-3')
-    } catch (e) {
-      err = e
-    }
-    // can't be extracted because we've passed it in the tar
-    // (specially crafted tar for this not to work)
-    t.equal(err.code, 'ENOENT')
+    // strips the linkpath entirely, so the link doesn't get extracted.
+    t.throws(() => fs.lstatSync(dir + '/3'), { code: 'ENOENT' })
     t.end()
   }