Gerard Reve was born on December 14, 1923 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. He was a writer, known for The 4th Man (1983), Dear Boys (1980) and Evenings (1989). He was married to Joop Schafthuizen and Michaelis, Hanny. He died on April 8, 2006 in Zulte, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he is considered one of the "Great Three" (De Grote Drie) of Dutch post-war literature.
His 1981 novel De vierde man (The Fourth Man) was the basis for Paul Verhoeven's 1983 film.
Another main theme, often in combination with eroticism, for him was religion. Reve himself declared that the primary message in all of his work was salvation from the material world we live in.