In 2.8 as in previous versions simple selection in object mode is problematic in many ways.

Problem

1. Having multiple objects overlapping makes impossible to deselect the one in front and sometimes orbit the view is not helpful.

2. If a big plane object is in the back of smaller ones you don't know if it is selected or not when its boundaries are out of screen.

I know the workarounds with ALT, Outliner or Wireframe but they are tiresome and you don't always care to name or remember every object.

The solution

I propose consists of two elements that work together even if it means asking for two features

A. Object Surface Highlight for preselect (mouseover) and select state.

B. Shortcut with only Deselect functionality.

Example: Shift+Cliclk only extends the selection and marks the active, NOT toggle select/deselect then Ctrl+Click only removes from selection. Of course would be great for consistency to have the same for Lasso, Box and Circle/Paint