diff --git a/src/__init__.py b/src/__init__.py
index 8a0f8916..af917a1b 100644
--- a/src/__init__.py
+++ b/src/__init__.py
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
 from testgres.operations.local_ops import LocalOperations
 from testgres.operations.remote_ops import RemoteOperations
 
-__version__ = "1.15.1"
+__version__ = "1.15.2"
 
 __all__ = [
     "get_new_node",
diff --git a/src/logger.py b/src/logger.py
index 51e11b73..333da71c 100644
--- a/src/logger.py
+++ b/src/logger.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ def __init__(
         assert type(log_file_encoding) is str
         assert os_ops is None or isinstance(os_ops, OsOperations)
 
-        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
+        threading.Thread.__init__(self, daemon=True)
 
         if os_ops is None:
             os_ops = tconf.os_ops
diff --git a/src/node.py b/src/node.py
index 4bdd88d6..b369c73a 100644
--- a/src/node.py
+++ b/src/node.py
@@ -638,6 +638,12 @@ def _try_shutdown(self, max_attempts, with_force=False):
         assert type(with_force) is bool
         assert max_attempts > 0
 
+        try:
+            self._try_shutdown_internal(max_attempts, with_force)
+        finally:
+            self._maybe_stop_logger()
+
+    def _try_shutdown_internal(self, max_attempts, with_force):
         attempts = 0
 
         # try stopping server N times
@@ -1331,11 +1337,13 @@ def stop(self, params=[], wait=True):
             "stop"
         ] + params  # yapf: disable
 
-        execute_utility2(self._os_ops, _params, self.utils_log_file)
-
-        self._manually_started_pm_pid = None
-
-        self._maybe_stop_logger()
+        try:
+            execute_utility2(self._os_ops, _params, self.utils_log_file)
+            self._manually_started_pm_pid = None
+        finally:
+            # always stop the reader thread, even if pg_ctl stop failed,
+            # so it can't leak into interpreter shutdown.
+            self._maybe_stop_logger()
         return self
 
     def kill(self, someone=None):