The Juvie Three is a 2008 Young Adult book by Gordon Korman.
The three eponymous boys are Gecko (an instinctual Badass Driver since his go-kart days who got dragged into helping his older brother with a robbery and is bad at thinking things through), Terence (a tough-talking, gang-affiliated Chicago burglar), and Gentle Giant Arjay (who accidentally killed a bully). They are offered a chance at early release from jail under the supervision of Reformed Criminal Douglas Healy. They are making the most of their new lives when Healy is left comatose in an accident while not carrying his ID. The boys are left hoping for his recovery while also trying to hide his accident from authorities, who will send them back to jail in a heartbeat if they hear Healy is out of the picture. As this goes on, Terence risks backsliding into crime, Arjay auditions for a band, and Gecko begins dating a volunteer at the hospital, any one of which could lead to very bad things.
Tropes in this book:
- Crime of Self-Defense: Arjay is in jail because when a Gang of Bullies attacked him, he pushed one of them, who fell back and fatally hit his head on a fountain, after which his friends painted Arjay as the aggressor.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: DeAndre is a Soft-Spoken Sadist who seems very much capable of murder, but he and his mom have a close relationship (minus her dismay at his poor life choices).
- Exact Words: The boys rely a lot on carefully worded half-truths while trying to hide either their juvenile delinquent pasts or how their supervisor, Mr. Healy, is in a coma.
- After Roxanne asks Gecko if his brother Ruben is in college, he tells her that Ruben is "upstate". "Upstate" really means prison.
- When a counselor asks Arjay if Mr. Healy approves of his joining a band, he truthfully replies Healy has never said a word against it.
- Freudian Excuse: Terence, the most aggressive and shady of the three, is always bragging about his old gang in Chicago, but eventually admits that he only set out to impress and join them after seeing how they were the only people his abusive father was ever afraid of.
- Honorary Uncle: Deputy Chief Delancey and Roxanne's father are close enough friends for her to call Delancey Uncle Mike.
- What You Are in the Dark: After the truth about the kids comes out, Deputy Chief Delancey is surprised and impressed that during all of the weeks that their monitor was in a coma or recovering from amnesia, they focused on staying out of trouble and acting like they would if he was still supervising their lives (attending therapy, doing homework, etc.) rather than skipping town or going on a crime spree).
- You Remind Me of X: Healy admits that each of the eponymous characters reminds him of himself in some way: Gecko due to being pressured into crime by an older relative, Terence due to being in a jail that is far out of his comfort zone, and Arjay because they both spent time in jail due to accidents gone wrong.
