Impressive, yet uninspiring

Theresa May:

The Enigmatic Prime Ministerby Rosa PrincePublished by Biteback Publishing, £20(Buy at Amazon)

It's just seven months since Theresa May became prime minister, but the first biography of her has hit the shelves. Written by journalist Rosa Prince, Theresa May, The Enigmatic Prime Minister, details her rise to the top and attempts to set out what we can expect from her.

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Like its subject, the book is both "thorough and devoid of surprises", says Dominic Lawson in The Sunday Times. Most of the content "is gutted from what has already been said and written about May", although former Conservative Party chairman Eric Pickles provides "some interesting new material". The book has no big revelations, agrees Sebastian Payne in the Financial Times. Yet it is "a laudable induction to the world of May, providing context to those keen to know more".

There is only so much that "a hasty investigation can reveal about a politician who has spent years fortifying her privacy", says Rafael Behr in The Guardian. However, what emerges is a clear picture of somebody "intelligent but intellectually incurious; determined to absorb the data required to compute a course of action, but lacking agility and imagination". Her story is "impressive, yet uninspiring".