import json


def str_to_json(s):
    """
    Deserialize JSON formatted string 's' to a dict.

    Args:
        s: JSON string to be deserialized

    Examples:
    >>> str_to_json('{}')
    {}
    >>> str_to_json('{"a": 1, "c": {"d": 3}, "b": 2}') == {u'a': 1, u'c': {u'd': 3}, u'b': 2}
    True
    >>> str_to_json('a')
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    ValueError: No JSON object could be decoded
    """
    return json.loads(s.decode())