Originally published as a serial in Analog Science Fiction (November and December 1974, and January 1975, under the title The Indian Giver), it appeared in book form in 1975.

In the future, “The Group”, a band of immortals (who call each other by nicknames based on famous historical characters) exists in secret, pursing their individual interests.

New York Times reviewer Gerald Jonas reported that Bester tried, but failed, "to make arbitrariness a virtue" in The Computer Connection, concluding that the novel "cannot possibly be as much fun" for the reader as it was for the writer.

His long-awaited novel, variously called The Indian Giver, Extro, and The Computer Connection, was a major disappointment—a confused farrago of old ideas and gimmicks.

"[2] Patrick A. McCarthy, in a review of Carolyn Wendell's 1982 Alfred Bester, wrote that her coverage of The Computer Connection is "very brief but quite accurate in calling attention to this novel's many shortcomings.