diff --git a/src/simple_http.rs b/src/simple_http.rs
index 09c85cff..dde55cc2 100644
--- a/src/simple_http.rs
+++ b/src/simple_http.rs
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@
 
 #[cfg(feature = "proxy")]
 use socks::Socks5Stream;
-use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader, Write};
-#[cfg(not(feature = "proxy"))]
+use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader, Read, Write};
 use std::net::TcpStream;
 use std::net::{SocketAddr, ToSocketAddrs};
+use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
 use std::{error, fmt, io, net, thread};
 
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ pub struct SimpleHttpTransport {
     proxy_addr: net::SocketAddr,
     #[cfg(feature = "proxy")]
     proxy_auth: Option<(String, String)>,
+    sock: Arc<Mutex<Option<TcpStream>>>,
 }
 
 impl Default for SimpleHttpTransport {
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ impl Default for SimpleHttpTransport {
             ),
             #[cfg(feature = "proxy")]
             proxy_auth: None,
+            sock: Arc::new(Mutex::new(None)),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -73,29 +75,58 @@ impl SimpleHttpTransport {
     }
 
     fn request<R>(&self, req: impl serde::Serialize) -> Result<R, Error>
+    where
+        R: for<'a> serde::de::Deserialize<'a>,
+    {
+        // `try_request` should not panic, so the mutex shouldn't be poisoned
+        // and unwrapping should be safe
+        let mut sock = self.sock.lock().expect("poisoned mutex");
+        match self.try_request(req, &mut sock) {
+            Ok(response) => Ok(response),
+            Err(err) => {
+                *sock = None;
+                Err(err)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn try_request<R>(
+        &self,
+        req: impl serde::Serialize,
+        sock: &mut Option<TcpStream>,
+    ) -> Result<R, Error>
     where
         R: for<'a> serde::de::Deserialize<'a>,
     {
         // Open connection
         let request_deadline = Instant::now() + self.timeout;
-        #[cfg(feature = "proxy")]
-        let mut sock = if let Some((username, password)) = &self.proxy_auth {
-            Socks5Stream::connect_with_password(
-                self.proxy_addr,
-                self.addr,
-                username.as_str(),
-                password.as_str(),
-            )?
-            .into_inner()
-        } else {
-            Socks5Stream::connect(self.proxy_addr, self.addr)?.into_inner()
-        };
-
-        #[cfg(not(feature = "proxy"))]
-        let mut sock = TcpStream::connect_timeout(&self.addr, self.timeout)?;
+        if sock.is_none() {
+            *sock = Some({
+                #[cfg(feature = "proxy")]
+                {
+                    if let Some((username, password)) = &self.proxy_auth {
+                        Socks5Stream::connect_with_password(
+                            self.proxy_addr,
+                            self.addr,
+                            username.as_str(),
+                            password.as_str(),
+                        )?
+                        .into_inner()
+                    } else {
+                        Socks5Stream::connect(self.proxy_addr, self.addr)?.into_inner()
+                    }
+                }
 
-        sock.set_read_timeout(Some(self.timeout))?;
-        sock.set_write_timeout(Some(self.timeout))?;
+                #[cfg(not(feature = "proxy"))]
+                {
+                    let stream = TcpStream::connect_timeout(&self.addr, self.timeout)?;
+                    stream.set_read_timeout(Some(self.timeout))?;
+                    stream.set_write_timeout(Some(self.timeout))?;
+                    stream
+                }
+            })
+        };
+        let sock = sock.as_mut().unwrap();
 
         // Serialize the body first so we can set the Content-Length header.
         let body = serde_json::to_vec(&req)?;
@@ -105,7 +136,6 @@ impl SimpleHttpTransport {
         sock.write_all(self.path.as_bytes())?;
         sock.write_all(b" HTTP/1.1\r\n")?;
         // Write headers
-        sock.write_all(b"Connection: Close\r\n")?;
         sock.write_all(b"Content-Type: application/json\r\n")?;
         sock.write_all(b"Content-Length: ")?;
         sock.write_all(body.len().to_string().as_bytes())?;
@@ -133,18 +163,39 @@ impl SimpleHttpTransport {
             Err(_) => return Err(Error::HttpParseError),
         };
 
-        // Skip response header fields
-        while get_line(&mut reader, request_deadline)? != "\r\n" {}
+        // Parse response header fields
+        let mut content_length = None;
+        loop {
+            let line = get_line(&mut reader, request_deadline)?;
+
+            if line == "\r\n" {
+                break;
+            }
+
+            const CONTENT_LENGTH: &str = "content-length: ";
+            if line.to_lowercase().starts_with(CONTENT_LENGTH) {
+                content_length = Some(
+                    line[CONTENT_LENGTH.len()..]
+                        .trim()
+                        .parse::<usize>()
+                        .map_err(|_| Error::HttpParseError)?,
+                );
+            }
+        }
 
         if response_code == 401 {
             // There is no body in a 401 response, so don't try to read it
             return Err(Error::HttpErrorCode(response_code));
         }
 
+        let content_length = content_length.ok_or(Error::HttpParseError)?;
+
+        let mut buffer = vec![0; content_length];
+
         // Even if it's != 200, we parse the response as we may get a JSONRPC error instead
         // of the less meaningful HTTP error code.
-        let resp_body = get_lines(&mut reader)?;
-        match serde_json::from_str(&resp_body) {
+        reader.read_exact(&mut buffer)?;
+        match serde_json::from_slice(&buffer) {
             Ok(s) => Ok(s),
             Err(e) => {
                 if response_code != 200 {
@@ -261,23 +312,6 @@ fn get_line<R: BufRead>(reader: &mut R, deadline: Instant) -> Result<String, Err
     Err(Error::Timeout)
 }
 
-/// Read all lines from a buffered reader.
-fn get_lines<R: BufRead>(reader: &mut R) -> Result<String, Error> {
-    let mut body: String = String::new();
-
-    for line in reader.lines() {
-        match line {
-            Ok(l) => body.push_str(&l),
-            // io error occurred, abort
-            Err(e) => return Err(Error::SocketError(e)),
-        }
-    }
-    // remove whitespace
-    body.retain(|c| !c.is_whitespace());
-
-    Ok(body)
-}
-
 /// Do some very basic manual URL parsing because the uri/url crates
 /// all have unicode-normalization as a dependency and that's broken.
 fn check_url(url: &str) -> Result<(SocketAddr, String), Error> {