diff --git a/request.go b/request.go
index e73a571..19294a0 100644
--- a/request.go
+++ b/request.go
@@ -66,7 +66,13 @@ func UnmarshalPayload(in io.Reader, model interface{}) error {
 
 }
 
-func unmarshalNode(data *Node, model reflect.Value, included *map[string]*Node) error {
+func unmarshalNode(data *Node, model reflect.Value, included *map[string]*Node) (err error) {
+	defer func() {
+		if r := recover(); r != nil {
+			err = fmt.Errorf("data is not a jsonapi representation of '%v'", model.Type())
+		}
+	}()
+
 	modelValue := model.Elem()
 	modelType := model.Type().Elem()
 
diff --git a/request_test.go b/request_test.go
index f96d805..4f22d2a 100644
--- a/request_test.go
+++ b/request_test.go
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@ package jsonapi
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -12,6 +15,32 @@ type BadModel struct {
 	Id int `jsonapi:"primary"`
 }
 
+func TestMalformedTag(t *testing.T) {
+	out := new(BadModel)
+	err := UnmarshalPayload(samplePayload(), out)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Did not error out with wrong number of arguments in tag")
+	}
+
+	fmt.Println(err.Error())
+	r := regexp.MustCompile(`too few arguments`)
+
+	if !r.Match([]byte(err.Error())) {
+		t.Fatalf("The err was not due too few arguments in a tag")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestUnmarshalInvalidJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	in := strings.NewReader("{}")
+	out := new(Blog)
+
+	err := UnmarshalPayload(in, out)
+
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Did not error out the invalid JSON.")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestUnmarshalSetsId(t *testing.T) {
 	in := samplePayloadWithId()
 	out := new(Blog)