Secrets of a Small Town: The Extraordinary Confessions of Ordinary People

The premise that average citizens of an average small American town have sensational or at least titillating secrets to reveal is completely disproven in this book by the author of The Do-It-Yourself Bestseller. The residents of the unidentified ``Anytown'' vie with one another to confess to the author, who promised them anonymity, such secrets as: (1) at age 10 a girl starved her pet hamster to death by feeding it only lettuce; (2) an atheist has stopped being an atheist, but is afraid to admit it; (3) a baby-sitter had a crush on the single father of the kids she sat with. There are many other ``revelations,'' most less exciting than these. The whole thing is monumentally trivial. First serial to the Star. (Mar.)