The book's lead character is both an 'object of' desire and an 'object of' pity. [=the lead character is both desired and pitied by other characters in the book]
When they take a vacation, 'money is no object'. [=they don't worry about how much something costs] They always stay at the most expensive places.
If 'cost was/were no object' [=if cost did not matter; if we had enough money] we'd buy a new car instead of fixing the old one.
(..) Now we just have to find it. I've taken care of that. I've designed this tracking device. You just set it to search for a moving object, like so. Hasn't got much of a range, but when you get within a certain distance... it'll start to give off a signal. What's it key off? (..)1979 Alien