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4 a.m.
Set in the early 1990s on a British army base, 4 AM tells the story of Cal and Manny, soldiers posted to Germany as army chefs. Bored and institutionalized, the pair soon succumb to the neon temptations of Hamburg's red-light district, where they dive into a seedy world of recreational drugs and all-night raves. But it is only a matter of time before hedonism and military discipline clash head on, with comic and poignant consequences.Life-affirming raving soon gives way to gloomy, drug-fuelled nights in fast-food restaurants, at sex shows, and in Turkish dive bars. As a succession of events ratchets up the pressure on Cal and Manny their friendship is tested, a secret is revealed, and a shocking betrayal changes one of their lives forever.Drawing on personal experience and extensive research, 4 AM depicts life in a peacetime Army, and a civilian milieu in which conflict is never far away. Driven by two distinctive voices, and written in a lively and buzzing style, Nina de la Mer's debut novel holds a mirror up to youth culture at the end of the twentieth century. The reflection is not always a flattering one.
- GenresFiction
273 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 25, 2011
About the author
Nina de la Mer
4 books45 followersNina de la Mer is a Scottish writer of contemporary literary fiction ( 4 a.m. - 2011; Layla - 2014).
'The female Irvine Welsh' (The Herald) 'Brighton's fabulous queen of the gutter' (For Books' Sake).
PRAISE FOR LAYLA:
'Unforgettable.' – Alan Bissett
'Brilliant, and darkly funny.' - Hello! Magazine
A 'new Tess of the d’Urbervilles for our time.' -Bookkaholic
'Layla is a triumph as a novel, and as a character.' – Scots Whay Hae!
'The female Irvine Welsh' (The Herald) 'Brighton's fabulous queen of the gutter' (For Books' Sake).
PRAISE FOR LAYLA:
'Unforgettable.' – Alan Bissett
'Brilliant, and darkly funny.' - Hello! Magazine
A 'new Tess of the d’Urbervilles for our time.' -Bookkaholic
'Layla is a triumph as a novel, and as a character.' – Scots Whay Hae!
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 1, 2013
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
A dark, well told tale of two British Army squaddies, Cal and Manny, stationed in Hamburg in the early 1990s who spend their leisure time immersed in the city's rave scene. Then the drugs don't work and the loved-up good times start to fracture. Cal and Manny each tells their own story of how the euphoria variously mutates into paranoia, self-loathing, betrayal and remorse. This is a compelling and credible story that seems to realistically evoke army life and 90s club culture. I always believed in the characters and the story. If the novel's premise attracts you, then I recommend it.
A dark, well told tale of two British Army squaddies, Cal and Manny, stationed in Hamburg in the early 1990s who spend their leisure time immersed in the city's rave scene. Then the drugs don't work and the loved-up good times start to fracture. Cal and Manny each tells their own story of how the euphoria variously mutates into paranoia, self-loathing, betrayal and remorse. This is a compelling and credible story that seems to realistically evoke army life and 90s club culture. I always believed in the characters and the story. If the novel's premise attracts you, then I recommend it.
December 16, 2020
Life
This is a very interesting book which made me think and consider how precious life is.
The story follows two young men and the trials and tribulations they encounter trying to come to terms with adulthood.
Through theyre lives in the army together the two come of age and discover all the delights and pitfalls of free choice or lack there of and an absence of sense fuelled by youthful hope, love, drugs, discipline, hard work, raving and abandonment In a city with everything they wanted and didnt want. I can completely connect with aspects of theyre lives, having at that age being of practically the same generation a love for the raving.(I did mine mid 90's onwards in warehouse partys all over London living as a squatter for 5 years). I felt like I was there with them in theyre world. I knew folk like them. I had very similar experiences(in terms of the partys anyway).
The game is survival. No matter who you are you need to learn to live in this world. Life teaches us that as does this book. We all have our personal struggles, what defines us is not just the decisions we make but how we live with those decisions. The cast of characters is very strong and well written. The story also is incredibly well written and at times heart wrenching though it is also filled with great moments of joy, camaraderie and hope for life. This wasnt a light read for me but was very worthwhile.
This is a very interesting book which made me think and consider how precious life is.
The story follows two young men and the trials and tribulations they encounter trying to come to terms with adulthood.
Through theyre lives in the army together the two come of age and discover all the delights and pitfalls of free choice or lack there of and an absence of sense fuelled by youthful hope, love, drugs, discipline, hard work, raving and abandonment In a city with everything they wanted and didnt want. I can completely connect with aspects of theyre lives, having at that age being of practically the same generation a love for the raving.(I did mine mid 90's onwards in warehouse partys all over London living as a squatter for 5 years). I felt like I was there with them in theyre world. I knew folk like them. I had very similar experiences(in terms of the partys anyway).
The game is survival. No matter who you are you need to learn to live in this world. Life teaches us that as does this book. We all have our personal struggles, what defines us is not just the decisions we make but how we live with those decisions. The cast of characters is very strong and well written. The story also is incredibly well written and at times heart wrenching though it is also filled with great moments of joy, camaraderie and hope for life. This wasnt a light read for me but was very worthwhile.
Read
August 16, 20124am is one of the best books I've read about the classic years of house music in the 1990's. What makes it special is it's unusual setting in Germany, mixing the barracks of British squaddies and the clubs in Hamburg.
It reminds me of Irvine Welsh's early writing in that you care passionately about the protagonists from the outset, as their pour out their hearts in confessional form. Their double lives of cooking for bored soldiers, mixed with lost weekends of raving and falling in love.
Made me want to time travel back to 1991 and experience it all again.
It reminds me of Irvine Welsh's early writing in that you care passionately about the protagonists from the outset, as their pour out their hearts in confessional form. Their double lives of cooking for bored soldiers, mixed with lost weekends of raving and falling in love.
Made me want to time travel back to 1991 and experience it all again.
September 20, 2012
Had trouble with Cals accent at first but I stuck with it & am glad I did.Cal & Manny tell this their story about drugs,sex, trance music & army life. They are best buddies but are so differant like ying & yang. Differant from my normal read made this more enjoyable. As a female author getting into these male heads is brilliant. A must read.
October 17, 2013
I thought this was an extremely well-observed book. It was thoughtful and hard-hitting. I think it would make an excellent TV drama to highlight the life of a squaddie in the pre drug testing era and the sense of alienation in army life.
March 23, 2014
This book is harrowing and tragic and all the while quite lovely. The language is poignant and real creating believable characters that own the page from the word go. This may not be a world you are familiar with but it sure is one that will fascinate you! I really recommend reading this.
April 18, 2012
two vivid voices, spot-on descriptions of raving/drug-use, and a shout-out for people/places usually unfairly neglected by literature
May 23, 2012
Page turner with as much rush as a night out in an altered state.
August 16, 2012
It's rare for a book to truly capture the grimy, sweaty, strobe-lit reality of the 90s club scene. This book properly nails it. Brilliant.
December 8, 2016
This novel blew me away. It is a story, narrated in first person, by Cal and Manny, two young squaddies in Germany in the early 1990s. Cal is a Glaswegian; Manny is from Essex. They are in the Catering Corps, have no great military ambitions, and live for the dirty rugs (drugs) they score in Hamburg’s seamy nightclubs. Cal and Manny are best buddies.
As one of the characters explains, 4am is a transitional time. It is no longer still night, but not quite day. It is a time when things change; it is a time when many people who die in their sleep pass away. In the nightclubs, it is the time to decide whether to return home to bed or to stay and party into the new day. In this novel, we meet Cal and Manny at their own, personal 4am – as they transition from boys to men. They discover relationships; make significant life choices; choose sides.
Cal and Manny have very distinctive voices, and address the reader directly. Cal speaks in a Glasgow dialect; Manny is pure Estuary English. They are an odd pair, but are united in their love of the rave culture. The communal living arrangements in the army barracks allow friendships to be formed quickly and with intensity; they also let small matters of resentment build quickly into deeply held enmity.
Cal and Manny both make choices that most readers would not make. They have brash exteriors and seem superficially worthless. But underneath, both are complex characters with deeply held insecurities. Neither has a happy family background and the army represented an escape – the escape now sought in the drugs and clubs. It is interesting to see the fierce loyalty and love that Cal and Manny have for each other and for their closer comrades; loyalty and love that seems to out-muscle their love for their girlfriends. Both form a close bond with the reader.
Nina de la Mer gives a wonderful, compelling portrayal of the army’s need to break young soldiers and rebuild them in the desired form. This comes at a human cost, and the reader sees it and feels it. In a sense, the army here represents a metaphor for life as a whole; even on civvy street, young people are shaped and formed into acceptable members of society. Rebellion can only be tolerated up to a certain point.
The contrasts between the regimented life in barracks and the freedom of Hamburg is done especially well. The swagger of the squaddies in the town, living it large, blowing their paycheques, riding the trains and driving off to Amsterdam all comes crashing down each night in barracks, and the next morning’s diet of inspections, parade ground drill, and boiling potatoes in the kitchen. It’s not Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman: it’s a fraction of the glamour but so much more meaningful.
This is a novel that, at first, is warm and humorous. But with time and growing realisation, it becomes pretty bleak. The ending (I won’t spoil it) is deeply moving and handled with great sensitivity.
Right now, it is January 2015. Have I already read my book of the year?
As one of the characters explains, 4am is a transitional time. It is no longer still night, but not quite day. It is a time when things change; it is a time when many people who die in their sleep pass away. In the nightclubs, it is the time to decide whether to return home to bed or to stay and party into the new day. In this novel, we meet Cal and Manny at their own, personal 4am – as they transition from boys to men. They discover relationships; make significant life choices; choose sides.
Cal and Manny have very distinctive voices, and address the reader directly. Cal speaks in a Glasgow dialect; Manny is pure Estuary English. They are an odd pair, but are united in their love of the rave culture. The communal living arrangements in the army barracks allow friendships to be formed quickly and with intensity; they also let small matters of resentment build quickly into deeply held enmity.
Cal and Manny both make choices that most readers would not make. They have brash exteriors and seem superficially worthless. But underneath, both are complex characters with deeply held insecurities. Neither has a happy family background and the army represented an escape – the escape now sought in the drugs and clubs. It is interesting to see the fierce loyalty and love that Cal and Manny have for each other and for their closer comrades; loyalty and love that seems to out-muscle their love for their girlfriends. Both form a close bond with the reader.
Nina de la Mer gives a wonderful, compelling portrayal of the army’s need to break young soldiers and rebuild them in the desired form. This comes at a human cost, and the reader sees it and feels it. In a sense, the army here represents a metaphor for life as a whole; even on civvy street, young people are shaped and formed into acceptable members of society. Rebellion can only be tolerated up to a certain point.
The contrasts between the regimented life in barracks and the freedom of Hamburg is done especially well. The swagger of the squaddies in the town, living it large, blowing their paycheques, riding the trains and driving off to Amsterdam all comes crashing down each night in barracks, and the next morning’s diet of inspections, parade ground drill, and boiling potatoes in the kitchen. It’s not Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman: it’s a fraction of the glamour but so much more meaningful.
This is a novel that, at first, is warm and humorous. But with time and growing realisation, it becomes pretty bleak. The ending (I won’t spoil it) is deeply moving and handled with great sensitivity.
Right now, it is January 2015. Have I already read my book of the year?
January 5, 2018
A bit of an unusual gem of a book. Two British chefs are posted to an army base in Germany where they fall hard for the hedonistic charms and woes of the early 90s rave culture in Hamburg. The drug references are as strong as their dialects, so it took me a couple of attempts to get into it. While it was 100 pages too long, it was a rewarding dive into the damaged male psyche. If you see a copy of it, grab it... as it’s hard to find!
August 24, 2021
This isn't what I would usually read, certainly not two characters in the army, BUT I thought the two characters were very well written, and the story well executed - I thought the ending was very good and poignant, and so I'm giving it four stars.
March 18, 2014
4 a.m.Nina de la Mer
Well, this proved a very interesting read for me. Having heard comparisons that this book was like a cross between Trainspotting and Auf Weidersein Pet I was ready to enter a world of witty banter and crazy capers.
To be honest, there are times when it is exactly like I imagined. Set in a British Army camp in Germany, we get an insight into the banter between groups of British males abroad and it’s a cruel and as funny as you can imagine (and as awful as you could imagine). The story focuses mainly on two characters, English southerner, Manny and Glaswegian Cal and is set in and around the 90’s ecstasy scene. The perspective switches from character to character (and dialects) between these two seamlessly and it’s when you are seeing things through Cal’s eyes and deciphering his Scottish accent that you are reminded most of trainspotting..(that, and the copious amount of drug taking and wheeler dealer-ing!)
For all the witty banter though, the book brought back lots of memories for me of times when I was reliant on substances and seeing how drugs create false worlds and false friends and how you lose touch with your real loved ones. So when I was reading through all the (drug) highs and accompanying madness, what was striking at me most were the subtle comments and selfishness of the protagonists. Seemingly innocuous comments about not bothering to go and see or write to relatives, or the many occasions when both of them let each other down or let down their on–off girlfriends as they lusted more after their highs than they did about their so called objects of desire. Well it had a very familiar ring to it.
Although I was never fully emerged in the ecstasy scene (I felt I was too old. I was a punk /ska/ reggae man who enjoyed different drugs and liquids) I was very intrigued to watch as friends of mine who had previous lambasted me for my drug use all started getting on board that groovy train and were taking copious amounts of the drug. I did dabble and I have to admit it was a very pleasant drug, but having been immersed in other drug scenes it was easy to spot what my friends could not..all this “love” was just phoney and temporary.
Friends (and even the media) were raving (pun intended) about how the ecstasy scene was breaking down barriers and how it killed off hooliganism and how mobs of scousers , mancs and cockneys were all getting loved up together at Raves, when only a year earlier that would have been impossible without much violence. But as I said earlier, no true friendship(s) or relationships can be dependent on temporary moments of love and euphoria..it will all implode in the end.
I think the author manages to get this message across very subtly without ever lecturing or patronising the reader. The book does read as a witty recounting of that scene and flows very easily to its inevitable conclusions without sermonising. It gives the reader a real feeling of what life is like in an army barracks abroad, the bullying, the horrors of being transferred to real warzones and of course the boredom and banter.It also provides a great insight into the highs and lows of drugs (the description of the acid trip had me chuckling away, as it was so near a perfect description of my first trip).
You could really see how this could easily be made into a TV drama or film, and the trainspotting / Auf Weidersein Pet comparison is a fair one.
My only negative comment is that I didn't really grow to actually like any of the characters in the book, but since when does that affect a good read?
Don’t read this if you don’t approve of drug use and sweary banter but if you did like trainspotting / Auf Weidersein Pet I guarantee you will like this.
Four out of Five….now for Layla!
Well, this proved a very interesting read for me. Having heard comparisons that this book was like a cross between Trainspotting and Auf Weidersein Pet I was ready to enter a world of witty banter and crazy capers.
To be honest, there are times when it is exactly like I imagined. Set in a British Army camp in Germany, we get an insight into the banter between groups of British males abroad and it’s a cruel and as funny as you can imagine (and as awful as you could imagine). The story focuses mainly on two characters, English southerner, Manny and Glaswegian Cal and is set in and around the 90’s ecstasy scene. The perspective switches from character to character (and dialects) between these two seamlessly and it’s when you are seeing things through Cal’s eyes and deciphering his Scottish accent that you are reminded most of trainspotting..(that, and the copious amount of drug taking and wheeler dealer-ing!)
For all the witty banter though, the book brought back lots of memories for me of times when I was reliant on substances and seeing how drugs create false worlds and false friends and how you lose touch with your real loved ones. So when I was reading through all the (drug) highs and accompanying madness, what was striking at me most were the subtle comments and selfishness of the protagonists. Seemingly innocuous comments about not bothering to go and see or write to relatives, or the many occasions when both of them let each other down or let down their on–off girlfriends as they lusted more after their highs than they did about their so called objects of desire. Well it had a very familiar ring to it.
Although I was never fully emerged in the ecstasy scene (I felt I was too old. I was a punk /ska/ reggae man who enjoyed different drugs and liquids) I was very intrigued to watch as friends of mine who had previous lambasted me for my drug use all started getting on board that groovy train and were taking copious amounts of the drug. I did dabble and I have to admit it was a very pleasant drug, but having been immersed in other drug scenes it was easy to spot what my friends could not..all this “love” was just phoney and temporary.
Friends (and even the media) were raving (pun intended) about how the ecstasy scene was breaking down barriers and how it killed off hooliganism and how mobs of scousers , mancs and cockneys were all getting loved up together at Raves, when only a year earlier that would have been impossible without much violence. But as I said earlier, no true friendship(s) or relationships can be dependent on temporary moments of love and euphoria..it will all implode in the end.
I think the author manages to get this message across very subtly without ever lecturing or patronising the reader. The book does read as a witty recounting of that scene and flows very easily to its inevitable conclusions without sermonising. It gives the reader a real feeling of what life is like in an army barracks abroad, the bullying, the horrors of being transferred to real warzones and of course the boredom and banter.It also provides a great insight into the highs and lows of drugs (the description of the acid trip had me chuckling away, as it was so near a perfect description of my first trip).
You could really see how this could easily be made into a TV drama or film, and the trainspotting / Auf Weidersein Pet comparison is a fair one.
My only negative comment is that I didn't really grow to actually like any of the characters in the book, but since when does that affect a good read?
Don’t read this if you don’t approve of drug use and sweary banter but if you did like trainspotting / Auf Weidersein Pet I guarantee you will like this.
Four out of Five….now for Layla!
January 15, 2013
This was given to me because my friend couldn't get around all the Scottish talk, but once you get into it, you get used to Cal's narrative.
However for a tale of two army cooks stationed out in Germany in the early 90s it really is an engrossing story. Bouncing between the two narrative's, best mates, Cal and Manny on their life changing time in the army, hitting the rave scene and having a drug fueled orgy of a happy time.
Highs and come downs galore in a novel of raw emotion.
However in all honesty another aspect to keep you going is the fact this story is written by a woman and she's got fully into not one but two male psyche-AMAZING!!!
However for a tale of two army cooks stationed out in Germany in the early 90s it really is an engrossing story. Bouncing between the two narrative's, best mates, Cal and Manny on their life changing time in the army, hitting the rave scene and having a drug fueled orgy of a happy time.
Highs and come downs galore in a novel of raw emotion.
However in all honesty another aspect to keep you going is the fact this story is written by a woman and she's got fully into not one but two male psyche-AMAZING!!!
August 12, 2016
Throw back to the 80's - a very entertaining account of clubbing and drug taking :-))
January 25, 2016
The premise sounded good but it was too much trying to make it through the dialect!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews