In describing Turnbull's time at the University of Sydney, Manning focuses on his burgeoning journalistic and political interests. Writing for The Bulletin as an undergraduate, Turnbull began one column: 'There's nothing the matter with being vicious. In fact, there is not nearly enough venom and malice in this pussy-footing society of ours.' The sentiment is revealing: few before or after would accuse Turnbull of pussyfooting.

Turnbull's student years were prodigious. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, where he continued his journalistic pursuits and married Lucy Hughes, daughter of John Gorton's attorney-general. Upon his return, Turnbull vigorously and successfully defended Kerry Packer before the Costigan Royal Commission. He drew mixed reviews. New South Wales Supreme Court Justice David Hunt accused Turnbull of 'poisoning the fountain of justice' by briefing the media about court proceedings. Business journalist Trevor Sykes called Turnbull 'a great lawyer for a hard road'.

On the heels of this success, Turnbull was instructed by publisher Heinemann in the case brought by the British government to prevent publication of former MI5 agent Peter Wright's book Spycatcher. Turnbull won the case decisively. This early brilliance is well documented in Born to Rule, but Manning's sometimes anodyne prose and heavy reliance on quotation gives an oddly passive impression of this dynamic period in the prime minister's life.

'The Turnbulls' circumstances, he reveals, were hardly straitened'

After Spycatcher, Turnbull embarked on a career in business, as a principal of merchant bank Whitlam Turnbull (with Gough Whitlam's son Nick and Neville Wran). Later, he headed the nascent Goldman Sachs Australia. Despite inevitable failures, Turnbull was an astute and effective, if hard-nosed, merchant banker. A felicitous combination of judgement, timing, and luck is evident in Turnbull's lucrative investment in OzEmail (an early Australian email and internet service provider) and in his partnership in Goldman Sachs, achieved shortly before the bank went public. Manning's prose recovers here, and he explains complicated transactions clearly and accessibly. Manning also takes an objective, clear-eyed view of the sharper elements of merchant banking.

Malcolm Turnbull in 2014 (photograph by Veni Markovski via Wikimedia Commons)

Less flattering aspects of Turnbull's approach to business also emerge in this period. He evinced significant tolerance for conflicts of interest. Turnbull saw no difficulties in acting for Fairfax and then subsequently for its bondholders against Fairfax, or in seeking a leadership role with the distressed parent of Channel Ten while a director of Channel Nine. 'Turnbull ... firmly believes that the Chinese walls in his own head are impenetrable', wrote one reporter. A strong vindictive streak is also revealed. When Turnbull was pushed out of the Tourang consortium bidding for Fairfax, he turned on Packer and leaked documents that forced Packer's withdrawal from the bid. Turnbull's authoritarian instinct was never in doubt: in the offices of Whitlam Turnbull, his nickname was 'The Ayatollah'.

Turnbull's life in politics arguably began during his chairmanship of the Australian Republican Movement. He was the ARM's driving force and major financier, but his style and approach were also blamed for the referendum defeat in 1999. In 2004, Turnbull won a brutal preselection battle for the federal seat of  Wentworth against sitting member Peter King. Once in Parliament, Turnbull was quickly promoted to the ministry for water and the environment, demonstrating a talent for solving thorny problems.

'As head prefect, he was domineering and sometimes alienated his fellow students'

Turnbull ruthlessly unseated then Liberal leader Brendan Nelson after the 2007 federal election. As opposition leader, Turnbull was unpopular and maladroit in his handling of the Godwin Grech affair. His trademark courage, however, remained. He was the only major politician to vociferously oppose the confiscation of Bill Henson's controversial art work and, after losing the leadership, crossed the floor to vote for an Emissions Trading Scheme.

Born to Rule finds its strongest voice in its penultimate chapter about Turnbull's performance as minister for communications in the Abbott government. His major brief was the delivery of the National Broadband Network. Manning pulls few punches in describing how Turnbull turned 'Australia's biggest infrastructure project' into 'a rolled-gold disaster that will be extremely difficult to fix', while still enjoying an inexplicably positive run in the media.

In its final pages, Born to Rule considers Turnbull's prime ministership by exploring some of his policy commitments and conversions. Ultimately, Manning gives readers an unsatisfyingly brief taste of what may come and leaves several interesting questions unanswered. How did a man whose life involves an expansive list of Labor connections and affections become a Liberal member of parliament? (Manning's explanation that Turnbull 'felt he was simply too rich for Labor' may be accurate, but it also suggests something about Turnbull's political instincts.) What qualities and circumstances allowed Turnbull to overcome a long history of bruising stoushes with senior Liberals, including two prime ministers, to be elected as party leader?

'Turnbull saw no difficulties in acting for Fairfax and then subsequently for its bondholders against Fairfax'

Other paradoxes in Turnbull might also have been more fruitfully explored. Turnbull has lived a very public life, but thus far the private man remains obscure. Born to Rule discusses, but does not elaborate on, Turnbull's relationship with his wife, a former Sydney lord mayor, or his conversion to Catholicism. Turnbull can be robustly honest with those he considers to be underperforming (Nick Whitlam, Brendan Nelson), but he can also be personally sensitive to criticism (as evidenced by his aggressive impulses, litigious and otherwise). His life to date reveals both a capacity for maturation and reversions to old habits. Manning rarely delves into the implications of these aspects of Turnbull's character.

Negotiating the idiosyncrasies of his own policies and personality will be central to Turnbull's future success or failure. Like Theodore Roosevelt, he is a progressive leader of a conservative party. (Roosevelt, regarded as one of the great US presidents, split the Republican Party in 1912.) In his first months as prime minister, Turnbull has deferred big policy debates – climate change, same-sex marriage, the republic – to focus on the economy. Smart politics. But the policy tensions within his own party can only be deferred for so long.

Malcolm Turnbull has, by any measure, lived an extraordinary life to date, and Manning sketches its major contours ably. However, by revisiting well-covered ground and failing to tackle the broader questions, Born to Rule can be uncritical and at times prosaic. Despite these failings, it is a well-written account of a fascinating Australian.