diff --git a/src/Elements/FractalRenderingLayer.php b/src/Elements/FractalRenderingLayer.php
index 243d1e0..560f878 100644
--- a/src/Elements/FractalRenderingLayer.php
+++ b/src/Elements/FractalRenderingLayer.php
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 use League\Fractal\Resource\Item;
 use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
 use Aztech\Layers\Layer;
+use League\Fractal\TransformerAbstract;
 
 class FractalRenderingLayer implements Layer
 {
@@ -35,6 +36,10 @@ public function __construct(Container $container, Manager $manager, Layer $contr
         } else {
             $this->transformer = $container->resolve($this->transformer);
         }
+
+        if (! ($this->transformer instanceof TransformerAbstract)) {
+            throw new \RuntimeException('Invalid transformer: ' . serialize($this->transformer));
+        }
     }
 
     public function __invoke(Request $request)