checking for return status between multiple commands

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

i have to run set of commands

command1
command2
command3
command4

Now Whenever any of these command fails i should quit while capturing error message.
Is there a better way then checking for $? after each command.

2

function em {
echo "error [${1}]"
exit ${1}
}

command1 || em ${?}
command2 || em ${?}
command3 || em ${?}
command4 || em ${?}